Glacier Grasses: Watercolor and Ink

Hey guys! I hope your summers are all going okay, and if you're having a rough summer start, I hope it gets better. Personally my summer is going pretty fantastic. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that this past weekend I was in my favorite place in Montana, Glacier National Park! I knew I wasn't going to have a lot of time to sketch there so I took pictures and video to work off of.

Materials:

• Watercolor paints (I used a hand-me-down set of super cheap Prang brand)
• Mixed media paper (I used a piece 6 x 8 inches, Strathmore brand, you could also use watercolor paper)
• Dip pen (I used Speedball brand, you could substitute a regular pen)
• Liner brush (I used size 0 Royal & Langnickel)
• Size 3 round brush
• Black ink (I used Speedball acrylic ink)
• White ink (I used Liquitex acrylic ink)
• Painters tape

Here is the first piece in this series, if that's what you'd call it. I hadn't worked with watercolor in a looooooong time so I thought I'd give it a shot on a little scene of some grasses.

I started by taping down the paper literally just to the back of my sketchbook. Nothing fancy. I do this to prevent rippling and all kinds of crazy warping ... I've learned this the hard way.

After I had all the watercolor put down I started adding the ink. I love ink. I will probably have ink in all of my finished pieces. I don't think that's a bad thing.

Then before I knew it, BOOM! I peeled the painters tape off and it was done. On a side note: I can't be the only person who loves peeling the tape off. I even filmed the event and shared it on my instagram. Even figured out how to do a voice-over. I was pretty proud of myself... I struggle with tech.

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of how I do things, and I hope you give it a go yourself! I'll be posting some more pieces inspired from my Glacier trip here and there. I would love to hear your feedback and what you thought of this. Take care!