Slowly But Surely...watercolor...

Slowly but surely I will get this posted.

Because I am using a very wet technique for this painting, and I will be using many layers of wet, blended colors, I don't have to worry about the graphite on my paper. Here I have penciled in lightly, with a number two drawing pencil, the darkest values of my painting. As I add the wet colors the pencil lines will lift and lighten. I don't want to lose my value pattern, so I add the darkest as they will be the last to be added in. If I were using a direct painting method I would be much more careful about the pencil marks. Even with this method, though, I don't want to press hard with the pencil. That would leave impressions on the paper that would cause the pigment to sink in, leaving unsightly marks.
More to come...