Working on Film

I took a two day workshop "The Thrill of Two-Sided Drafting Film" presented by Pam Belcher out of Seattle. I know it sounds like a dry subject but the potential of what it can do really is exciting. This was done on Dura-Lar matt film.

I cut a sheet of film to ATC size so each piece costs me a mere 5 cents to experiment on to learn how many layers I could or couldn't put on it, adding textures, how intense I could make the images, the speed a drawing could be developed, scannability, etc.  The tag marked "F" is just there to tell me which side is the front and another to show which is the back side.  To develop the intensity of color and detail both sides are used.  Each side is different yet similar.  At first I thought working two sides of anything would take longer but amazingly the technique is faster than traditional paper and the colors pop with little effort.  Lots of potential here. 

ATC Template

I've always wondered how many ATC cards I could cut out of an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of watercolor paper.  ATC's, also known as ACEO's are not business card sized but close. 

The answer is 10.  Here is a handy template to help:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/49187820903743804/

Plein Air Practice

Plein Air is a French word meaning to work from and in nature.  Toward the end of September I decided to take advantage of an opportunity in the early hours of the morning by setting aside one hour to paint along the river.  When the weather is good I walk down to Pixie Park or stop at the Daughters of the American Revolution rose garden which is slightly up the hill, set the alarm on my phone for one hour and paint the vista before me.  The dew point as the sun comes up affects how quickly or how slowly the paint dries so I am often waiting for a section to dry before I can continue on.  So nothing gets to the point of "finished" but that's not the point.  It's the challenge of figuring out how to capture a sunrise which is over as soon as it begins. 

 

 

 

 

Watercolor in a watercolor moleskin journal.  What I'm liking about whatever paper they used to make the journal with, it kind of puckers a bit when it's wet but as it dries it returns to a flat state.  And an interesting observation, each sunrise is unique.  Makes it fun.