Long Branch

[Bartc]

Back to Long Branch Saloon & Farm in Half Moon Bay, CA for some painting today. Snagged two quickies: 12x9" Caran D'Ache crayon on watercolor paper of a barn against the hillside; 3x5" ink & watercolor on paper of a windmill. B. Charlow 2023

 

[Artyczar]

Nice work Bart!

 

[KreativeK]

Bart, your quickies are very well rendered, fresh and spontaneous.

 

[Bartc]

Thanks, Ayin and Kay.

 

[Jo Castillo]

I love the colors in the first one and I am so enraptured by windmills. This wooden one brings good memories.

 

[ntl]

Those are neat! Nice work.

 

[Terri]

I missed these before - very nice work for a couple of quickies! Beautiful palette in the first one, and that tree packs a punch! Terrific detail in that windmill. Nice job!

 

[Balaji]

Bart...These are lovely, especially the first one.

 

[Terri]

Bart, I'm curious - are you liking your Caran D'Ache crayons better these days?

 

[Bartc]

Bart, I'm curious - are you liking your Caran D'Ache crayons better these days?

Kind of mixed. I'm learning how to use them and they have some versatility, but it still feels more like a drawing medium than a painting medium. Have only tried using a DIY mixing palette once and find they do mix but they don't quite seem like watercolor to me. Have not tried using them as underpainting for another medium, such as pastel, so that may be next. Jury is out. Not unhappy to have bought them and have them available, just unsure this is a medium I want to use that much.

How I work may be the reason for the above. I do have watercolor pencils and Inktense, both of which have their uses in sketching or underpainting in my watercolor paintings, but so much easier just to use pen and wash. I do like my Nupastels for same uses primarily sketching and underpainting for softer pastels. For acrylics I ended up using acrylic markers for same purposes before laying on the brush. Obviously, I know how and have occasionally used all of these for the full paintings, but they are mostly used for the first steps in my workflow. These Neocolors can work that way, but don't fully satisfy as yet.

I like the way my first Neocolor painting - Trees Like Dragons - came out. I haven't been quite as thrilled with any paintings since, however. The above example being one of the latter.

 

[Terri]

they have some versatility, but it still feels more like a drawing medium than a painting medium.

Agreed - also, I broke just about every one the first time I would pick it up, which made me feel they were too fragile, but more like it was me being too rough. One thing I do with oil pastels is spread them from the side and do a wash with Turpenoid for a quick & easy first layer, or underpainting. I've been wanting to see the effect Turpenoid has on Neocolor - and avoid having to use watercolor paper, which I'm generally not too fond of.

Like you, I just haven't found an easy way to get them into my typical workflow.