Trying out new things while waiting for the new era to begin

Mesmerized by the works of Rebecca Dautremer (I got her book The Princesses so quickly it made the slide doors in the bookshop spin. I may be a pirate, but I am still mad about picturebooks.) I've failed to identify her technique, especially for the backgrounds and vast surfaces, so I'm trying out everything I can think of.

For the first time in over a decade of watercolor, I'm testing out the Derwent Drawing pencils (once my most prized possession)

and pastels. My brittle-like-a-bitch prized possession. Took me four hours to sharpen them all with an utility knife and I have blisters to prove it. Piček had to massage my arm to make it capable again. I've forgotten how much drawing with pencils hurts..