- Hi, this is Kath with Pocket Sketching.

What are we going to do this time?

Way back out of the 1800s, a technique that has been dropped.

It is wax, it's used as a resist, it takes no room.

It's clean, it goes with you, you're going to love to see how this works, and I can't wait to have you come along.

Come join me.

(upbeat music) Let's see something that goes way back in tradition today.

Way back, way, way back in tradition.

I studied with a couple of mentors, both water colorists, and they told me about something people did in the 1800s, but they didn't do it.

It's wax as a resist.

Now they both use their thumbnails to scratch, but I never saw them use a resist.

What do people use nowadays?

Most people use things like this.

This is called Friskit, it's in a bottle.

You put it on with a brush and it leaves hard edges.

And then you'd have to take it off.

You have to rub it off.

It's hard getting it back off.

These are all steps I don't want to be bothered with.

But beyond that, am I going to be carrying this in my bag?

No way.

No.

Nothing this big, nothing this messy, nothing I have to do two steps on.

Instead doing a little research and being incredibly lucky.

I was able to go to a John Singer Sargent show in Brooklyn.

And I had heard that Sergeant used wax, but I'd never seen it used.

I also did a lot of research.

Sargent used candle stubs.

Here are mine, one for sharp edges and one for big areas.

You're going to see them in a few minutes.

Let me show you what it does.

This is a Sergeant.

Remember he was a portrait painter in Europe, but when he came to the States he did watercolors almost exclusively and he did them fast, and he did them in the field.

He actually brought his family members.

This is his sister.

They came on vacations with him.

He paid for the vacation, but he also brought the costumes and they had to pose for him.

So and he loved reclining figures.

In this figure, the swirls in the dress, these are done with wax, and it gives you a resist.

There's something else, it's sort of a, but wait there's more, you don't take it off.

It's archival.

So once you put it on, it is a resist and it stays forever.

You don't have to rub it back off, peel it off, any other of these things.

In the show that I saw in Brooklyn, this is where I saw extensive use of wax.

And it's still there.

And the paintings were done in the mid to late 1800s.

Here's another one.

And this will show you another step, and modern people have a different way of doing this.

The wax is here.

Now you can get the same effect with dry brush.

Dry brush is a lot of pigment very little water and a lot of practice to get control.

This does not take control.

And this is what I'm going to show you in a few minutes.

This is done in steps.

The light yellow was put on first, the blue wasn't there.

Then the light yellow is waxed.

Then you put on another color, then you wax that and you put on another color.

Finally coming up with the blue.

That's how you get all these frilly edges, and doing the edges of trees against the sky is always a problem for people.

Let me show you a few places where this works and then we'll get on to actually doing it.

That's the fun, it's the doing.

The one behind me.

Okay.

Where's the wax in this?

This is kind of fun.

I'll point it out carefully.

See that water edge?

That's wax.

That held this edge from that.

See the shine on the bottle?

That's wax.

Shine over here, wax.

Bottom of the glass, stem of the glass, wax.

Area right there?

Same deal.

It's a resist.

Show you another one.

In this, wax is over the buildings up here, wax is on the water.

It's a resist, it leaves shining light.

Isn't that fun?

And it would be very hard to do this otherwise.

Here and it's up in the mountain where there's lighter areas.

You can use it any place there's shine.

This one, and this is the one we're going to work from today, in the water and up in the mountains.

Now let me show you how because it's amazingly easy, amazingly fun.

Oh, what's the source of the wax?

Cheap candles.

Don't use bees wax.

It'll fill in everything and you'll get a, it'll look like Friskit, it'll be solid resist.

Store candle, a dollar.

We usually buy one of these, cut it up, find out if it works and then go get several more.

I actually ordered these to get a smaller width.

You need to check it before you use it because some candles when you go to press with them will shatter.

These both hold up really, really well.

And some are too soft.

They melt too easily.

So using this as an example, gonna start with a piece of paper and just briefly rough in this sketch, just very, very briefly.

Now it's, if I'm up here, it's hard to do a line that's straight.

It's easy if my finger is on the edge of the paper, I want a line that's straight to demarcate that light area.

So of course you always hope it works.

It's kind of funny, those of us who do demonstrations, do hope they work and they don't always.

I've seen one in front of an audience of about 250 watercolorist, which did not work.

And the guy is a nationally known watercolorist.

It was, it was basically, it was a bomb, which can happen.

So you hope they don't happen when it's important.

It doesn't matter if you're by yourself and you can fix it.

(chuckling) Now I'm going to be asked a couple of things.

How do you get that super dark?

Photography darkens the dark, so it's not really that super dark, but your pen is the super dark.

And you simply scribble this in.

Getting enough pen lines that it will turn sap green, which is a very light green into a very, very dark green.

And don't be afraid to use up a pen.

They're cheap.

Have more.

I mean it's truly an inexpensive toy.

And if the price bothers you, think golf.

Play a public course.

You'd be lucky if you can get it for $35.

Most pens are very, very inexpensive.

There, okay, I've got my dark in.

So I know where that is.

And then I'm going to put in and there's a little bit there, okay, got that.

So I've demarcated where this is going to be.

That mountain in the background.

Now remember, nobody knows what you see.

Nobody knows what you saw.

Camera has to be accurate.

You have to be what you think you saw.

And there's going to be another little something in this one.

This particular photograph gives you an opportunity to do all kinds of things.

So I'm just getting it more or less, more or less is fine, there, got it more or less.

And I'm not going to want that line to show up either.

So, we've got all kinds of little things happening here.

And more or less just the idea, okay, this is the beginning.

Put the pen away.

The wax.

I want the glint of light on the water, that glint.

So push on the wax.

Not a whole lot.

You don't want it to be absolute solid.

And a little bit more, just a bit.

I can feel it on the paper, I can feel it, okay?

I'm done with that one.

So now get out the water.

It doesn't matter which one you use.

And I think, yeah, this is, I was using this this morning to practice, that is not dirty, that is not dirty until it colors the paper by itself.

And that's a half day supply of water.

Get out your paints.

You're in for a bit of a surprise, I think.

I could be wrong.

Incidentally, this is a travel brush.

They come with screws and a cap.

Their advantages, the hairs go inside so that you don't wreck them like that.

And I recommend you put it someplace safe, don't carry them in a pocket.

'Cause you'll forget it.

Okay.

I am ready to do water.

I need some paint.

If you care, this is cerulean blue, and come in and do wind on water.

This is so much easier than dry brush.

Dry brush, I'd have to be able to do this.

Okay.

I've got wind on water.

You just see how simple that was?

I mean, really, wax works.

Why it was ever dropped, I don't know.

Why it was dropped, amazing to me.

Okay, the next thing I'm going to do and I'm not going to carry it all the way on this one.

I want some of that light color on the mountains and I don't want to get that line involved.

The light color.

I'm going to go for Alizarin Crimson, and I'm going to put it lid on my box, 'cause I want it dilute.

And I would to pick up a bit of yellow ochre to see if that gives me a fairly decent color.

Very Crimson, try a bit more.

Possible.

Might be too dark.

Come in and at least get the part that's going to be light here afterwards.

And I have one, and I don't want to, watch me not touch that line.

The reason I don't want to touch the line, I don't want a dark edge.

And this is going to be another little, there's several lessons in here.

that could be a bit too dark.

It will be lighter as the color comes out of the brush.

See how much lighter it is?

It'd be okay down.

put a little more pressure on.

Now, if I want that lighter, I'm going to lift it in a minute, but I'm going to use this to make this darker area over here.

Got it all.

Now, if I want this lighter, rinse, squish out the water, And come back and pick some up and it'll be lighter.

Now I have to wait for this to before I can put wax on it, wax will not stick on a wet place.

So you have to wait for it.

Now I told you that I didn't want the skyline to show.

So what am I going to do while I'm waiting for this to dry?

Oh, I forgot something.

It's pretty important.

There are reflections in the water.

I don't know why, but I forget things like this.

Get those in too, they're a little dark, it's okay.

Depends on what I do next.

Whether it works or not.

Okay.

So got lots to do.

What am I going to do while I wait for these to dry so I can put wax on them?

Turn it over and go for the sky.

Oh, I could do it this way.

It's just awkward.

Turn it over and pull that line into clouds And get rid of the line at the exact same moment.

So it's becoming clouds.

Now I can play with the sky and do anything with it.

But one, I wanted to get rid of the line.

There are so many lessons in this one individual piece.

So many fun lessons.

Okay.

And I'd also like to have a wet sky, because it's water vapor after all.

And now do I happen, just happened to have a color in here in the lid.

All this stuff in the lid is invaluable.

That wasn't wet enough.

I have a little bit of dry spot up there.

So wet it.

Oh, if you get the paper too wet, what are you going to do?

Wait for it to totally dry.

When it is totally dry, absolutely dry, either sit on it or put books on it.

This small pad and the next size up, which is about six by eight will both totally flatten with weight.

When you get bigger than that, I recommend you go to a heavier paper so that it doesn't curl.

Again, I made, Ooh, that's nice.

There come cloud, Oh, I'm going to have blue water here.

Big mistake, straight gray sky.

Big mistake.

What are you gonna do about it?

Show you in a minute.

I gotta get this while I've got some wetness to make it work.

And incidentally, the sky is what's referred to as wet in wet.

I'm using wet watercolor paint on an already wet surface.

Now I want it to look like there is some blue sky.

There has got to be blue sky.

There's some.

Okay.

And tip in a bit more, some place like about right in here.

There is now blue sky and I can have blue on the water.

Kind of okay with the sky.

I think it's going to be kind of cool.

Okay.

Still waiting.

How do you know when this is dry?

Touch it.

When it is warm, like the paper, it is dry and it'll hold wax.

So right now I'm going to go for that.

And I'm going to actually change wax.

In the 1800s people carried pocketknives.

So they would sharpen an edge.

I don't have to, I do have a pocket knife, it'd just take a minute to sharpen it.

But this one happens to have sharp edges.

Do I want any sharp edges?

This is the fun part, folks.

This is really fun.

Little bit over here.

Definitely want this waxed, waxed right in here.

Some there, come over here and get that.

No, I can't see where it is.

Sergeant actually used a pencil, sometimes.

He drew with either a pencil or with dilute paint but he painted so much.

He'd have five brushes loaded in his hand at one time.

And select the brush to use while they're all loaded.

Master master water colors.

But it was because he loved it.

He loved it so he was out there painting all the time.

And if you're painting all the time, let me tell you you're going to get really, really good.

If you expect it to turn out perfectly with no practice, good luck, it's not going to happen.

It's like trying to ski jump and not learning to stop or turn first.

It's just not gonna work too well.

So if you're expecting marvels, and you're not willing to put the time in, don't expect too much.

Now I want be sure that this is, it's only relatively dry, it's cold, so be careful when you get to the sky, 'cause it's gonna run up into the sky.

So I'm going to be very careful here, but watch this appear.

Watch the pink appear.

I'm going over it with a purple, and any place I've used the wax it's going to show up and be a different color.

And I want to use this again and not water it down.

It's a little bit darker right in here.

Go for that darker.

Look at the glow.

It's fun to see it appear.

A little bit darker right up here.

Covered something I shouldn't have covered, but that's okay.

It's all right.

It's good.

Come right up to close to that line area.

The mountains are in.

Did I remember to wax this?

I don't think so.

So if I go over it right now, it's gonna go totally covered.

I don't want that.

But I don't want a ton of this showing either.

Not a ton, just a bit.

Okay.

Now you come back in, and the color that's back in here is back down here.

So make more.

This is if you care it's ultra Marine blue and this is Alizarin Crimson.

And I want a purple similar to what's on the mountain.

And here comes the water.

And the wax should protect the reflection.

Only the water also goes all the way to cerulean in the foreground.

And there's another color because I haven't touched the trees.

Let's do those trees and I'm hoping the background is dry enough that it doesn't run.

Sap green, a relatively weak, all round green and something I didn't do, did I?

I don't know.

I'm not sure I put wax in there.

But I am going to want it to be warmed up a touch.

So whether there's wax or not, this will influence the next color.

That's yellow ochre.

And it's handy to have a second brush even if you don't paint with it.

It's kind of fun, when I was looking at the Sargent stuff and saw just how very, very much he used multiple brushes, by the way, see how black this is coming out?

This is the black line influencing weak sap green.

And I'm simply pushing against it.

I was going to say how much Sergeant used multiple brushes.

Oh and one of the reasons I like Sergeant, he made gobs and gobs of mistakes in his watercolors.

Almost all of them are full of mistakes and he simply, he didn't throw them out, he simply hid him.

He hid him or made you look somewhere else.

And the mistakes are there and they're there permanently.

And it's great to know that a terrific watercolorist could have mistakes everywhere and not let it bother him.

Not have to start over.

I took a, I was forced to take a couple painting classes in college and I got watercolor classes and the teachers were purists and if you made a mistake, you started over.

Oh dear.

(chuckling) And fortunately I didn't really think that was the only way, but it isn't the only way.

See how this is coming up so fast?

Now this color happens to also be in the water and I'm hoping that, did I wax that yellow?

No, but it'll still influence this and I'll get it, it'll be warmed up by that color that's under it.

Now come down to the front and add this same yucky, dark green.

And I don't have any black to do it with.

So what I think I'm going to do is pick up some purple with, that turned out, that's a great color, yucky, dark green.

And it's in here.

It's in here.

The yuckier it is, the better.

I want it to get some of that purple in there, make it really yucky.

Incidentally, don't take yourself too seriously.

You're out here to have fun.

And if you blow one, it really turns out badly, you're out here to have fun.

When you go outdoors, relax.

Now if that's too extremely green, and I think it is, come back and make a bit more purple.

You're not done.

Make a little bit more purple, same as before.

Notice I'm messing up the far side of the second color, not the near side.

I want the near side to be clean.

That's a Alizarin Crimson on the near side and it's whatever grunge it is on the far side.

And no your paints do not have to be totally clean.

You do have to have be able to get to it one way or another.

And then there's a little bit of dark.

This will be kind of fun.

I'm gonna use this one 'cause I want to go a little bit smaller than that's going to allow me to.

I'm going to protect these cerulean blue and come in with the darker color over it.

And I don't care that the darker color is yucky.

It's on the edges.

Now look at all the effects in here.

It is so much fun to play with wax.

You couldn't get these color effects any other way.

It would be difficult, time consuming.

These don't take any room.

They go in the bag.

They are fabulous toys.

You use them anytime you want something to pop out.

And then by the way, this is clean up.

If you've taken all kinds of oil paints or watercolors in the field, you get to clean up every day, that is/was clean up, put everything away and move on.

But the example that's even more fun than the one I just did.

It is more fun, really, this one, wax, wax in here.

And then the one that's in the background.

People want to know where do you use it?

Well you use it wherever you want to use it.

And you have it with you.

And when you want to use it, you just pull it out.

It's never messy.

It's not going to spill.

It's a lot like taking a bunch of stop-out materials.

That's bulky, bring along a big purse.

And if it spills, you're going to have a mess.

Never ever spills.

It's fun.

It's fast.

It goes with all of your equipment.

It just fits and you're not bringing it along the kitchen sink.

I love the fact.

Totally portable, do it in a tiny amount of space and then put it away instantly and leave.

What more could you ask for?

And then if you don't want to paint it all, Hey it's all in the bag, you don't have to paint, but everything is in there so you're ready to go.

So thanks so much for coming along with me.

I wanted you to see all these fun things from way back in the 1800s and still fabulous.

Happy sketching.

Want to learn more about the wonderful world of pocket sketching?

Then visit my website at pocketsketching.com.

We have so much there for you to explore, including free tips and training videos, the pocket sketching supplies, photo galleries, and how to access additional training.

All this and more is available pocketsketching.com.

Learn enough to play for a lifetime.

(upbeat music)