Shari Blaukopf - The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working with Color: Techniques for Using Watercolor and Color Media on the Go

DON LOW

Temple Along Leng Kee Road

iPad Pro, Procreate, Apple Pencil

Theres nothing more exciting than a sketching palette filled with fresh paint. For me, its a box of candy. Acid yellows, shiny reds, deep blues. My brush hovers eagerly over the paints as I decide where to dip first. And when I finally do make the plunge, theres nothing more beautiful than that first stroke of color on a sheet of bright white paper. Can you tell that I love color? Ive even caught myself driving and mixing the colors of a passing scene in my headwhich seems a bit crazy as I think about it, but its true.

Urban sketching is about engaging with the world around you, truly seeing all its riches and taking the time to capture them on paper. Whether youre in a crowded market in an exotic locale or sitting under the cool shade of a tree near home, youre surrounded by colorfrom bright and saturated to soft and muted. Every day and every scene is different.

We all have our own sense of color. Its reflected in how we dress, furnish our homes, and, of course, pick colors for our sketches. Color choices are as unique as our drawing style. But that doesnt mean we cant try new thingsin fact, we should always be exploring new ways to express what we see. Thats what this book is about.

Working with Color is not a technical guidebook. There are plenty of those on the market. Instead, my goal is to give you stimulating ideas about how to integrate expressive color into your sketches. Whether you work in pencil, ink, watercolor, or some combination of these, the tips and illustrations in these pages, drawn from an international gallery of sketchers, will inspire you to try new techniques and give you a fresh perspective on the colors in your sketch bag.

Seek out color right where you live. I found this purple door on one of the Victorian houses that line Montreals Carr St. Louis, and sat in the park across the street to sketch the door itself and the lively morning shadows that crossed it.

SHARI BLAUKOPF

Purple Door

10.5 8.25 | 26.7 21 cm; Ink and watercolor

Color can sing, speak, or whisper. In early spring, I captured the soft colors of the foliage surrounding this maple, noting the subtle changes of greens and reds from one plant to the next.

SHARI BLAUKOPF

Spring Maple

11.5 9 | 29 22.8 cm; Watercolor and pencil

Theres great, understated beauty in neutral colors. From a caf window across the street, I sketched the dilapidated faade of Crystal whatever it once was.

SHARI BLAUKOPF

Crystal

5.4 8.25 | 13.3 21 cm; Ink and watercolor

KEY I

BASICS

Urban sketching is by definition spontaneous and immediate. In my case, Ill often pause to sketch on my way to work or other outings. Having the right tools at hand makes it easier, and also means Im likely to sketch more often. If my sketching bag is packed and by the door, Im ready for whatever the day bringseven if it means sketching in my car on a cold day. After years of trying out different tools, Ive reduced my kit to the essentials.

Because I never know whether Ill be spending fifteen minutes on a pen drawing or an hour on a watercolor, my compact sketch bag holds pens, pencils, a small watercolor palette, a few water bottles, and several sizes of sketchbooks. With time, seasoned sketchers pare down their supplies to what they use most often. Whether youre drawing near home or taking your kit overseas, you want to be as mobile as possible, which means less fussing with tools, more time sketching.

SHARI BLAUKOPF

Corner to Corner

8.25 8.25 | 21 21 cm; Ink and watercolor

Keep Your Palette Compact

Theres no shortage of small watercolor palettes on the market. Many good ones come prefilled with half-pans of color, but I prefer to fill empty half-pans with fresh paint using my favorite colors. My basic kit includes a small enameled metal palette with a tray and three wells for mixing paint, as well as twenty-three spots for color. A small thumb ring under the box makes holding the palette that much easier. I also keep a few bulldog clips handy for attaching the palette to my sketchbook, in case Im standing on a street corner to sketch.

Make sure you have plenty of space for creating a wash. With three wells for mixing, my palette keeps washes of different colors separate. (See for my preferred colors.)

Dried-out Paint

If your half-pan colors dry out in your palette, spray them with a little clean water, wait ten minutes, and see if they freshen up and release saturated color again. If theyre so dry the cakes are cracked, its time to buy some fresh paint!

Brushes and Water

One or two travel brushes are all you need for most urban sketching. Investing in a good-quality travel brush, synthetic or sable, is money well spent. If it has a good point and holds lots of wash, it should last a long time. Look for models that allow you to store the brush in the handle, to maintain that point. And once youre done, always wash your brushes with clear water and shake off excess moisture to further prolong their useful life.

A plastic water brush (a brush tip with a water reservoir) is another good addition to your sketch kit. While its not my brush of choice, because the tip doesnt hold enough wash, its handy if youre using water-soluble inks or pencils and want to wet small areas of a sketch. Its also handy when youre traveling by air and cant carry lots of water.

In addition, a basic sketch kit should include a couple of small leakproof water bottles (one for painting and one for cleaning brushes) and a small spray bottle for refreshing dried-out paint on your palette. I also carry a tiny tube of Titanium White watercolor for adding small details and highlights. I simply dip my brush directly into the tube and dab some white onto my sketches.