Black and White and Red All Over

I have such a backlog of urban sketches that I want to share... I'll start with a little lesson I am learning about working on toned paper. Very often I only pack a dark pencil (black or brown) and a light pencil (white or cream), leaving the middle tone of the paper to do the rest of the work. But every now and then a splash of additional color is so helpful!

Example #1:
Raindrops on maple twigs, sketched in Poulsbo, Washington. My brother-in-law loaned me his red editing pencil for the color detail and I was so glad to have it.

Example #2:
Took the Bolt Bus to Bellingham a few weeks back, and got these doodles during our layover in the International District of Seattle.

As you might guess from the red lanterns in the tree, it was right about the time of the lunar new year. I had only packed two pencils--a black and a white. Luckily my husband had a red ballpoint pen with him, because that little scene really needed its splash of color!