The green-eyed lady

Green eyed lady. Watercolour pencils and coloured pencils on watercolour paper. July 2013

This piece is the result of some experiments.

1. I first did a very raw sketch just to get an idea of the painting. I then did a fine sketch on a piece of copy paper the size of the final watercolour paper (17×24 cms). Copy paper is quite cheap, so there would be no problem with not being satisfied with the first version.
2. When I had done a sketch I was satisfied with I fixed a piece of watercolour paper on top of the copy paper, went to one of my windows and traced it on the watercolour paper with a pencil. I then traced the pencil strokes with an ink pen and then erased the pencil lines.
3. The third step consisted in using the watercolour pencils for getting an underpainting. I used q-tips and not a brush for applying the water. because I had the feeling that doing it this way let me have more control.
4. The last step was to draw/paint the details with coloured pencils.

I am quite satisfied with how the painting turned out. I like the intensity of the colours, something I now know cannot only be reached by applying baby oil on coloured pencils but also by applying water on watercolour pencils.