Edisto series continued

Edisto II

mixed water media on paper

10 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here are two more paintings in my Edisto series, created with the same process as the first. After sketching in the composition with a watercolor pencil I lay in watercolor washes. Then I build up areas with more saturated watercolor, after which I apply watercolor gesso in selected areas. Then more washes and marks with Inktense pencils. I liked the simplicity of the composition in the painting above, and left a good deal of white paper exposed. This painting shows one of the many little cottages at Edisto beach.

Edisto III

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I am enjoying being able to use very saturated color and then push it back with the gesso. This process adds a dimension to the layering of pigment that watercolor alone cannot. And then restating areas with marks made with those wonderfully vibrant Inktense pencils is just fun! The painting above is inspired by the walk out to the beach at Botany Bay. I have read where the Botany Bay nature preserve sustained a good deal of damage from Hurricane Matthew and that it will be quite a long time before it will be open again.

sketchbook :: Edisto part two

In addition to my two watercolor sketchbooks I also brought a pack of watercolor postcards with my sketching supplies. The small size of these cards makes for a handy small scale sketching kit for quick studies on the go. The cards were 4 x 6 inch Fluid 100 cold pressed paper, a surface I hadn't worked on before. And maybe it was because of that, or maybe because I was sitting on the beach in the warm sun, but the first few sketches that I tied with this paper (not posted here) were not making me happy. It was like working with markers, the paper just sucked up the pigment before I could move it on the surface. So out of frustration I removed a blank page from the pack and dipped it into the surf until it was totally saturated.

Returning to my spot on the beach, I laid the wet card on my towel and began again painting the surf. The salty sea water allowed the paint to move in delightfully suprising ways. While Kiddo enjoyed the waves riding her skimboard, I happily painted the movement of the surf exploring the colors of the sea and sky.

I so enjoyed the effect of watercolor paint on this saline saturated paper that I repeated the experiment on another afternoon.

I began thinking what fun it would be to do this process on a much larger scale, with big brushes. It is something I may try here in my studio, although I don't know if our mountain well water that comes from a spring will allow for the same effects that ocean water creates.

sketchbook :: Edisto part one

I brought two sketchbooks with me for our trip to Edisto  Beach, South Carolina. All of the sketches in this post were done in my handmade sketch journal that is 7 x 8 inches and filled with 140lb Kilimanjaro cold press watercolor paper. Some sketches occupied only one page, while others went across the entire page spread. I did not scan every sketch that I made on this trip as there were quite a lot!

The screened porch of our rental cottage offered many opportunities to fill a sketchbook page. Sometimes I practiced painting the palm leaves and I made many sketches of sea shells.

The limes were for a recipe we were planning to make along with fresh fish from the local market.

We were very good this year and only brought back our very favorite sea shell finds.Many that I sketched went back to the beach. Edisto Beach always boasts a lot of shells for the treasure hunter.

Not all my sketches were done on that lovely screened porch. This was from an outing to the St. Helena Sound side of the island. Our dogs enjoy this stretch of beach as the waves are much more gentle for cooling off in the water.

There was a canal behind our cottage and with a backyard filled with palms and live oaks it was a pleasant spot to sit and sketch. I even saw a great blue heron swooping along the waterway.

And just sitting on the beach with my sketch book was a wonderful way to pass time, practicing painting skies.