Feature Image: Cafe scene with red chairs

Loose Watercolour Technique for Urban Sketching – Happy Accidents

I’ve had an unwanted hiatus from sketching this month, and it’s been a struggle to get back into the daily sketching habit. My urban sketches have been less than endearing, so I’ve had a couple of weeks of sketching from photos.

Yesterday was the first time this month I’ve had a successful live sketch at a cafe and was happy with the results. I painted at home, and though a happy accident, I’ve discovered the painting technique I want to embrace and incorporate into my style.

“There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.”

Bob Ross

Loose Watercolour Technique – single colour

I used a single colour for the old man’s yellow jacket and the girl’s red t-shirt, and applied the colour in layers.

• For the Old Man’s jacket I applied a washy first layer, and then applied the second layer wet on wet, and blended the edges of the second layer in.
• For the girl’s t-shirt I applied the first washy layer and let it almost dry, before adding blobs of a second layer to areas I wanted shaded/darker, and let this second layer dry with hard edges.

The girl’s top has more energy to it. It’s less fussy, and I like the looser feel this impressionistic watercolour technique provides. I didn’t intentionally set out to colour their tops differently, and it wasn’t until after I’d finished both of them that I realised I’d used a different technique.

I used the same colour and technique to create dynamic looking furniture in the group scene, and made sure to leave a lot more white areas.

For the people’s clothing I used single layers of colour in natural tones so as not to compete with the chairs. (This way your eye is drawn to the complimentary colours of the red furniture and green trees).

Loose Watercolour Technique – single and dual colour

For this next trio of images I decided I needed to leave more white, and I wanted to experiment with the same technique I used with the girl’s red t-shirt.

• Pink Shirt Girl didn’t turn out as I intended. Although I like the amount of white I left, the tone of pink wasn’t a strong enough contrast to work well.
• For both my girls in green I used a washy base layer of yellow-green, and then added a bit of blue to create a darker second layer. These shirts may not look realistic but I love how this erratic second layer helps to create energy, and life it brings to these simplistic images. I also liked the odd shaped patches of white I ended up with for the highlighted areas.

Loving your Urban Sketching style

Experimentation plays a key role when you’re sketching, it keeps you on your toes, and make the creative journey interesting. And every now and then you’ll draw a line, or apply colour in a specific way that you’ll love the look of and want to embrace. Only problem is—then you have to spend countless creative sessions trying to recreate the technique that started as a happy accident. But at least my inspiration spark has been re-ignited.