Watercolor sketching

So, I finished the skecthbook that I started when I came here. In a matter of 3 months I filled that book, not a white page in it. Just about the whole book is subway sketches, me just sitting there on my commute to and from Manhattan. Anyway, so I needed to try something else for a change. I had gotten the hang of drawing people with pen and the subject matter (the people on the train) have started to get a bit boring...I see the same type of people everyday. So I decided to try something new...

Watercolor sketching. I went and bought a pad and devised a method of keeping my water secure by putting in a baby cup...but that didn't really make for a good method.

First of all, I was using regular brushes, a regular set of watercolors and the baby cup. So on the train it was hard to hold everything correctly and still be able to paint.

Secondly, that baby cup wasn't as secure as I thought it to be. On the often shaky train I got water all over the floor and myself, and one time I left the cup in my bag and it spilled all over the place somehow.

So, eventually I mentioned this to a friend of mine and he said I should look into buying water brush pens. Kinnokuniya had them supposedly. But actually, I found a whole set at Utrecht for $15. It worked pretty well, but then I saw that the brush was kind of cheap and ended up going to Kinnokuniya anyway.

The pens are awesome. Now I have a handy little set that can fit in my hand making watercolor sketching an almost effortless activity. Without this I don't think I'd really have gotten into watercolor as much as I have now, it was all so mendokusai before...

Well anyway, I put up some sketches that I've done on the train, enjoy.


My first attempt at watercolor sketches with the crazy set up I mentioned



I ease in to things with waterpen. The girl is someone in my painting class, and the rest is just me teaching my friend how I paint with some random sketches.

This was done today on the train.

and this was also done on the train. The lady in the middle is my friend I plan on painting her portrait before Wednesday for an extra credit assignment. Also I don't know what's up with that thing in the upper right, I just made it up, looks like an androgynous cat/human hybrid...sorry.