Watercolor Pencils vs. Watercolor

My intention was to paint this little ACEO of a tiger with watercolor pencil and ink.  I chose watercolor pencil because I like the fact that once the pencil marks are dampened and then dried they are permanent, and thus won't move when additional layers are added. 

I had a successful experience with watercolor pencils for the finch painting, so I expected success once more.

My first mistake was using cold-press watercolor paper as opposed to the smoother drawing paper that I had used with the bird.  The rougher surface just doesn't work well for me because the coverage is too light as the pencil skips ovet the valleys in the paper.

Also, I found that the colors were not as bright as my M Graham watercolors.  So after I did the watercolor pencil then the ink over it I switched to the watercolors for a final color application.  My final touches were a light coat of iridescent watercolor medium over the lower portion of the sky.  This gave a beautiful shimmer and I think added to a somewhat mystical mood.  Finally, I added the whiskers with white acrylic.  For the white acrylic, surprisingly I find that I get the best results with Delta craft acrylic White.

I am finding that the ACEOs are a wonderful way for trying new things as there is so much less invested!