Dragon Gate (San Francisco)

After reading the book "Painting landscape with atmosphere" by Ray Balkwill, I wanted to try a mixed media painting and settled for watercolour and graphite.

Dragon Gate (San Francisco) - Watercolour (31 cm x 39 cm) by Benoit Philippe

I really enjoyed the freedom of playing with colours. After drawing the taxi with a pencil, I covered it with masking fluid. I also splattered the sheet of paper with masking fluid to create an effect similar to the batik technique on fabrics.

I then laid out the washes and applied colours for the elements of the background. When the washes were dry, I splattered the paper with colours in the same way I did with the masking fluid.

The graphite gives texture to the dark lower part of the car

After removing the masking fluid, I painted the taxi.

It was time to switch tool and draw with the graphite pencil. The texture of graphite on the paper is coarse and gives vigour to the drawing. I also hatched the dark parts of the car to create a pattern.

The effect created by using graphite and watercolour together reminds me of some of the works by Enki Bilal, a creator of elaborate comics I admire.

The random splattering creates some interesting texture as well as an idea of movement

The coloured washes loosely fit the drawing, which was my intention