Twilight Watercolor Sketch

This sketch is an impression of a suburban lakeside scene of streetlamp lighting along a plaza in the distance reflecting on the darkening surface of the water. (It is probably not a good sign when you have to explain what a picture shows!)  It is done on Alpha series Stillman & Birn paper, which is meant for pen and ink sketches and, at most, watercolor washes.  Despite some overworking here, the paper did not buckle.  While clearly not as strong or absorbent as the way-more popular (especially for professional watercolorists) Arches paper, this paper can be appealing simply because it isn’t as absorbent.  In fact, the interaction of this paper with watercolor  is pretty nice, which is certainly a reason it has found such favor with urban sketchers.  A helpful review of this paper can be found here.

Illustration: Watercolor, gouache and white “Gelly Roll” pen