Man on Laker 2

7"X5" Graphitint and Aquarelle on paper

I have tried to remain pretty seasonal with these paintings, at least since about my tenth post. If I am not actually painting from life or from a photo taken within the week, I have tried to use references that were taken at the same time of year. This is a little out of order. Although this picture was taken in March, it must have been quite a bit later in the month because the canal isn't open yet and right now it is hard to imagine that it will be soon. Although we had a Spring thaw yesterday, it froze again overnight and tonight we have an ice-storm.
I am starting to lose patience with the Graphitint pencils. They are very good for muted low key drawings, but for bright colours and for true darks they fall down. Although the darks do look better in reality than they do when they are scanned. The scanner seems to reflect light off the paper behind the pencil (does that make sense?). As soon as the weather warms up I am going to try to go out at lunchtime at least a couple of times a week, then I will probably use my watercolour pochade.