I often use line in my watercolour paintings, in the form of calligraphic marks towards the end, which I feel help bring the work to life. But recently I’ve rediscovered an interest in the actual process of line and wash, using either pen and ink or watercolour pencil and wash. In the effort to get out of the rut of always doing the same kind of work I’m going to add this to my must do list along with painting watercolour on canvas. And of course, I can always combine the two, as I did in the hare painting I recently did.

Here’s a Dragonfly composition, consisting of a pencil sketch, inked over lightly with a Staedtler waterproof pen and then brought to life with line and wash in waterproof ink by Jax, colour burnt sienna. I used burnt sienna watercolour paint for the spattering. I also did a bit of line emphasis using the Staedtler watercolour pencil.