After focusing primarily on the underpainting and the watercolors with “La Macchina Electrica - I”, I decided to fold more pen work back into my artwork. Instead of adding the ink after the watercolor, I decided to begin with the ink and then progress to the watercolor.

This was a strategic choice as much as an artistic one, for it seemed that the watercolor (and the associated water) opened up the pores of the paper, which altered the feel of the pen on the paper. The pen work looked less sharp and didn’t blend in as much with the watercolor as I would have liked.

So, for this piece, I decided to change things up. I began with a pencil sketch, which I inked over and then erased the remaining pencil before progressing to the watercolor. From there, I went over the sunlit areas with a yellow watercolor wash, and the shadowy areas with a blue wash. Once these dried completely, I added more details with other colors, painting directly over the wash as I had for “La Macchina Electrica - I”.

All in all, I was pleased with the result, and quite relieved to be working with ink again.