watercolour over coloured pencils

Painting watercolours on top of coloured pencils
Painting watercolours on top of coloured pencils

This is one of the 'what if...' experiments I've been doing lately. As an artist I do them all the time.
This one is ... what if I do a coloured pencil drawing and then add watercolour on top?

You're thinking what I'm thinking. That's not going to work. Since coloured pencils are usually either wax or oil based, you'd expect them to resist the watercolour. But I wanted to try anyway. Because I'm like that. And it actually works!

Thoroughly enjoying this new process. Let's see where this goes. Somewhere or nowhere. It doesn't really matter, because right now it is pretty fun.

Lead deluxe drawing set from @with.create.anywhere on cold pressed postcard from @etchr_lab

Coloured pencil drawing with watercolours on top
Coloured pencil drawing with watercolours on top
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One of my all-time favourite paintings of a stormy day in a ruined Roman town in Spain.

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how to actually progress in watercolour

how to actually progress in watercolour

30 March 2026

This is a detailed post — grab a coffee. I get asked about this a lot, and it deserves a proper answer. I'm often asked some version of the same question: how do I actually progress in watercolour? ...

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