Blue Moon

After struggling all day yesterday with a watercolour version, I managed two quick drawings of the Blue Moon scene that I found on the National Geographic website a couple of weeks ago, one with Art Rage (below) and one with Paper (left).

Watercolours can be so unforgiving, but so beautiful when I finally get it right. This one will be a while I think.

Believe it or not, the masking of the moon worked quite well. But the reflections in the water were a complete disaster. I tried to mark them with my Masquepen, with the fine tip, but it got very blotchy, nothing like the delicate effect I was trying to achieve. It turns out the fine tip is blocked. I tried to clear it, but nothing will do. I'll need to buy another one. Masking fluid is very frustrating. The idea of it is great, but it rarely delivers the fine lines I want. I've tried a few different brands, but always come back to the Masquepen. My problem is that I don't use it very often, and of course, by the time I get to wheel it out, it has clogged up. But anyways, even if the masking had worked, I still would have had the problem of adding the coloured reflections. Then my trees got all out of proportion, and really chunky. Not a pretty sight. I think it all started with my choice of paper - I should have gone for a smooth hot press paper, as I'm trying to achieve a smooth effect. Or maybe I should go for a chunky look, using oil pastels, like in the ArtRage one above? Decisions Decisions!