Alun Armstrong’s character in “New Tricks” wears a knitted watch cap in many episodes. And so in March 2021 when I was sketching him every day I ended up sketching him in such a cap quite a lot. That’s fine because I think it’s fun to sketch knitted textures.
Here is the sketch before I painted it with watercolor:
I almost didn’t paint the sketch. I liked the ink so much just the way it is. But I love the OLD Winsor and Newton hot press watercolor paper so much, and this is one of the last books I have left, which I bound with that paper. And there was that wonderful knit hat to paint…
Above is a close up of the final painting. I used a darker value of wash over the dry first layer on the cap, and stroked upwards to get some “knitted channels.” And it is always fun to paint in a 5 O’clock shadow. So no regrets for painting.
