Peaceful Scenes

Both these pieces have this in common: they are places I have never visited. One is sketched from a photo that my niece took, another is from window-swap. Both pieces use watercolor, pen&ink and water soluble wax crayons.

In this first cheerful scene, Dolly’s window looks out at cheerful laundry, flapping in the breeze. It really does help to have motion and sound when I am drawing this. Of course, I’d love to be actually sitting at that window, painting…

The view from Dolly’s window in Chester, Nova Scotia. Window Swap.

This street scene from Tokyo had so many charming details to hone in on, I went with a slightly retro-looking palette to make it hold together. It’s a really small piece, as you can see by the size of those crayons.

What I love about using crayons is that they capture the sparkle of light on surfaces when used loosely. I think you can see some of it in this close up, especially on that shuttered storefront.

I have not read of heard anyone use the word sfumato in a very long time, but was reminded of it from a comment someone made on instagram, when describing those buildings in the distance. It’s one of those words I liked the sound of before I knew what the word meant.

Sfumato. The word has a strange magical feel to it. Like another word I love: Gloaming.