Tag Archives: colored pencil

Sleigh Bells

December 1st, 2008 | By Heather Anderson

December is upon us, and this year, we have snow already. When we first moved to the village we live in, there were a lot of horse people living here, and sometimes in winter, you could see people driving past in their sleighs. It was lovely to hear the sound of sleigh bells approaching. One winter, with a borrowed driving horse and sleigh, I tried my hand at driving, and it was wonderful. This Colored Pencil painting, “Sleighbells” with a willing Morgan and delighted Shelties brings back happy memories of that winter.
Heather Anderson

©Copyright 2008 by Heather Anderson. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Heather Anderson’s website.

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Favorite Artist - Gemma Gylling

November 23rd, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

Today’s artist is Tracy, California artist, Gemma Gylling.

Gemma works in oils and colored pencils. It is with her colored pencil work that I am most familiar so although she has some wonderful landscapes and seascapes in oils (and some landscapes in colored pencil, as well), I’ll be sharing her colored pencil work today.

For me, Gemma’s signature piece is Gulliver (shown here), which I had the pleasure in person at the Carriage Factory Gallery’s Man’s Best Friend Show in May, 2006. Gulliver is a 13.5 inch by 9 inch colored pencil painting with a lot of character.

It is always a special delight to see art work online and enjoy it, then to have the opportunity to study it in person. Not even the best digital images can compare to the originals. It was certainly no different with Gulliver or with any of the other artists whose work I have seen both online and in person.

In addition to selling originals, reproductions and wearable art, Gemma conducts workshops on her highly detailed techniques. We all just missed a seven-day cruise on Carnival in which Gemma was one of three nationally known artists teaching colored pencil (that would have been fun!), but Gemma has a teaching kit available for those of us who are not quite up to ‘cruising levels’.

Take some time to visit Gemma’s web site. Whether you enjoy dog art, wildlife art, landscapes or seascapes, you will certainly find something to like!

Best wishes!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Favorite Artist - Arlene Steinberg

November 16th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

Today’s artist is Arlene Steinberg.

Arlene uses colored pencils and a classical painting technique to create still life paintings, and what she classifies as ‘illusion of reality’ paintings.

I first encountered Arlene’s work through the Wet Canvas forum and later through ScribbleTalk. When I first saw her work, I couldn’t believe it was colored pencil. I had been dabbling with colored pencil periodically for several years and had always liked the fact that colored pencils are clean, easy to use and very portable.

But I had never been satisfied with the degree of finish and always went back to my first love, oil painting after doing just a couple of colored pencil pieces.

Arlene’s paintings opened my eyes to the possibilities.

Arlene ‘paints’ using a variation of classical painting techniques in which her under paintings are in complementary colors, rather than a single color half-tone. I Thought I Lost Them (shown above) is one of the first paintings I followed as a work in progress.

In 2005, Arlene was hosted for a three-day workshop at the Carriage Factory Gallery and seeing her work in person was even more eye opening. And very instructive.

Arlene’s specialties are florals, still life images and images that she categorizes as “The Illusion of Reality” (see Oops!, at left).

She has also recently published a book describing her technique. Titled Masterful Color, it is available through her web site and everywhere fine art books are sold.

Her current exhibit calendar includes shows and exhibitions in many different parts of the country. If you have the chance to see her work in person, it is well worth the effort.

If you cannot, her web site is also well worth the visit.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Pool Party

November 9th, 2008 | By Heather Anderson

This past summer, I was asked to do a very challenging commission. My client wanted a painting with 7 Golden Retrievers in it for a Presentation Gift. All the dogs were owned by the person who was going to receive the painting.

I decided to go with Coloured Pencil for this one. Each dog was to be an individual mini portrait so there was no attempt to place them all in proportion to one another, but I needed something to pull the whole painting together. As so many of the photos of the dogs showed them playing in and around the pool, it was a natural anchor for my painting. Many photos were used in this piece, several of each dog, and I hoped that I had made each one an individual.

POOL PARTY was presented late last month, and now I am free to present it on my website and blog. The recipient loved the painting, and to my delight, effortlessly picked out each one of her dogs. Happy faces all around!

Heather Anderson

www.heather-anderson-animals-in-art.com

©Copyright 2008 by Heather Anderson. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Heather Anderson’s website.

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Virtual Sketch date, pear drawing

October 25th, 2008 | By Sheona Hamilton-Grant

“Two Pears in a pod”

28×15 cm, Pencil on paper

Here is my interpretation of this months Virtual Sketch date.

Both pears are done in graphite, the bigger one using Derwent 2B and the smaller one using Derwent Graphitints.

As usual my strange vision zoomed into only a part of the reference photo. The lay and the shadow play of this particular pear, for some reason, inspired a “quick” sketch.  (This piece was done in just under two hours and therefore, I hope, still qualifies as a sketch.)

On reflection: my feeling is I should do it again and this time have the colour in the foreground… off balance the way it is right now.

Million thanks to Belinda Lindhart for providing the pick.

Have a great week-end!

©Copyright 2008 by Sheona Hamilton Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Sheona Hamilton Grant’s website.

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Mid-week reflections

October 8th, 2008 | By Sheona Hamilton-Grant

Three things have been on my “me” (professional/private) agenda for a longish time now…and the longer they’ve stayed there the more “impossible” they seem to have become…

This (mid) week has been a turning point. A week of conquering… AH!

1. Try colour (been thinking about this for at least (dare I say it?) 2 years! )DONE

2. Make  a healthy soup from top of the range veg (not a fanatical cook you understand but always thought it a great way to prepare for winter…!). DONE

3. Up-date and 2x check client database (critical before the Xmas mailings get going.) DONE

Result=

# 1 : looks quite OK!

#2 : Tastes great!

#3  is Bullet proof (i.e strong and healthy!)

Mini conquerings, on the scale of 1 to 10 I reckon a 3: but who knows the world is my oyster right?

The moral of this post keeps ringing loudly : what the heck have we actually got to loose: GO FOR IT!

To all of you out there fearing the current climate. Cut it down to mini little things and grab the energy! The world is as much your oyster as it is mine.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you what’s on the drawing board…

©Copyright 2008 by Sheona Hamilton Grant. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Sheona Hamilton Grant’s website.

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ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait, Day 5

October 4th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait
3-1/2″ by 2-1/2″
Rising Stonehenge Drawing Paper, White

I am going to combine three days worth of work on this post because the progress in the first day is obvious and the progress in the second day is less obvious.

I worked on Lockkeeper this day because the background still looked done! Praise the Lord! In fact, the background is so deeply saturated with color, that it reflects light, just like an oil painting. Now that’s what I like to see.

So I moved on to work on Lockkeeper.

The colors I used were Goldenrod, Orange Ochre and Terra Cotta. Each was applied in random order throughout the horse, building color layers. Pressure was light to medium throughout.

The work that went into the painting this day involved both Verithins and Prismacolors. The Verithins were used first to establish as deep and even a layer of color as possible while using up as little tooth as possible.

The colors were Orange Ochre, Spanish Orange, Crimson Red, Orange, Peacock Green, Black, Non-Photo Blue and Goldenrod. In the first pass, the colors were used in that order. In subsequent passes, they were not necessarily used in the stated order.

When I had done all I thought I could do with those, I switched to Prismacolors and continued work. Burnt Ochre, Orange and Black were the three colors I used.

For the most part, I used a medium to heavy pressure, really forcing color down into the tooth of the paper to fill up every last space.

The next day, I followed pretty much the same procedure.

Verithins in Goldenrod, Orange Ochre, Crimson Red, Ultramarine, Orange, Canary Yellow and White (the last two colors were highlight and/or burnishing colors). They were followed by Prismacolor Burnt Ochre applied in light to medium pressure.

When I finished for the day, I came to the very pleasant conclusion that this painting is almost finished. If I didn’t want to do much tweaking, I could even consider it finished.

But the face isn’t as polished as I would like it and the shadow along the jugular ridge isn’t quite deep enough. I’ll have to get out my magnifying glass and check, but I think Lockkeeper’s eyes are darker than what I’ve shown here, too.

I may still do some tweaking on this one, but it is currently an active auction on eBay.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait, Day 4

October 2nd, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait
3-1/2″ by 2-1/2″
Rising Stonehenge Drawing Paper, White

One of the interesting things about colored pencil is that something can look finished one day and be clearly unfinished the next.

Conversely, a work can go from ‘nowhere near finished’ to ‘almost done!’ in the course of a working session. Oil paintings can, too, but are not as apt to do so.

I had worked quite a bit on the background in the previous session, but felt the need to add more color layers this time around. I used Dark Green, Olive Green, Indigo Blue, Apple Green, Dark Umber and Yellow Chartreuse to deepen the saturation of color all around. Lights were applied in light areas and darks in dark areas with enough overlap to avoid ‘pasted on’ value patterns.

I then used Yellow Chartreuse, Chartreuse, Light Green, Apple Green, Deco Yellow and French Grey 30% to burnish. It sounds a lot like the work described in the previous post and it is. Multiple layers of alternating color.

The result was a deep and rich color field that looked almost like it could have been an oil painting. It remains to be seen whether it’s finished or not, but I think it is. Again.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait, Day 3

October 1st, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait
3-1/2″ by 2-1/2″
Rising Stonehenge Drawing Paper, White

Work began this day with some final layers of color on the background. I used many of the same colors that have been used, but in the softer, thicker leaded Prismacolor line. Apple Green and Dark Green were used in the light and dark areas respectively, then I began using some lighter colors to blend and burnish a little bit. Peacock Green, Chartreuse and Light Green.

With the background complete (for now), I turned my attention to Lockkeeper.

Still using Verithins, the initial layers of colors were applied to the horse. Goldenrod in the lighter areas of his coat (around the eye and poll, for example. Orange and Orange Ochre as a base coat throughout the more medium range colors and Indigo Blue in the mane and forelock and in the darker shadows around his eye and muzzle.

In the next work session the following day, I continued that work with Verithins, building as smooth and even a color layer as possible. The texture and softness of Rising Stonehenge paper definitely assists in that effort.

I used Prismacolor Verithin Terra Cotta, Goldenrod, Orange Ochre. Dark Brown and Crimson Red to build coat color, carefully working around the highlights on shoulder, neck and face.

Black and Indigo Blue were also used to begin placing the very dark areas: muzzle, eye, mane and forelock.

But I also used some Prismacolors in those same colors to add a little vibrancy.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait, Day 2

September 27th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait
3-1/2″ by 2-1/2
Rising Stonehenge Drawing Paper, White

In this working session, I started adding colors. I am still using the Prismacolor Verithins in an effort to fill up as many of the paper ‘holes’ as possible without filling up the tooth.

The colors I used are listed below, but not in any particular order. In fact, many of them were used several times, alternating colors among the many layers I did throughout the day.

The colors I used are:

  • Dark Umber
  • Goldenrod
  • Terra Cotta
  • Apple Green
  • Grass Green
  • Olive Green
  • Peacock Green
  • True Green
  • Canary Yellow
  • True Blue
  • Non-Photo Blue
  • Ultramarine

Most of today’s work was done on the background. The background will affect the way the horse looks more than the horse will affect the way the background looks. They do each affect the other, but the background colors have more influence.

It would have been preferable to work both areas up at the same time, but I was scanning photos for the next exhibit at the gallery and was working on this while the computer worked. Lots of stops and starts. It was easier to work on an area that has a more random look, hence my decision to do the background.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait, Day 1

September 26th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

ACEO Lockkeeper Portrait
3-1/2″ by 2-1/2″
Rising Stonehenge Drawing Paper, White

Meet Lockkeeper.

Lockkeeper will be the subject of an upcoming conformation-type portrait in oils.

This is not the beginning of that portrait except for the experience of working with Lockkeeper. I guess you could consider it a study of sorts.

This portrait will also be a change of pace.

The ACEO horse portraits in oils are going so well at the moment that I thought it would be fun to do one in colored pencil. I have done very little colored pencil work this year due to the constraints of time and the fact that everyone who has purchased a portrait has chosen an oil painting.

Now it’s time to add a colored pencil ACEO to my growing collection.

The photograph above is one of three rolls’ worth of photos I took of Lockkeeper at his home at Starwin Farms in May, 2008. He is a great stallion and has already produced some excellent trotting sons and daughters, including 2006 Michigan Standardbred Trotter of the Year, Benns Cowboy.

He also happens to be a gorgeous animal and an excellent subject. I have a couple of trot shots of him at liberty that are also begging to be painted, but that’s another story….

From the photograph above, I developed this drawing. The original drawing is larger than the ACEO size, but that’s not unusual. Most of my drawings are worked up at a set size, usually 8×10 to 9×12, since those sizes of drawing pads are easy to carry wherever I am going and I can work on drawings away from the studio. This drawing isn’t that large, but it’s still larger than an ACEO.

The drawing had to be scanned and reduced to size for this project. It would have been nice to be able to print directly onto the drawing paper, but the card had already been cut to size and I could just imagine the mess that would cause in the printer! Yikes!

So I coated the back with a graphite pencil, positioned the reduced drawing where I wanted it and simply retraced the lines to transfer the drawing. The soft lead I used required some clean up afterward, but that was all right. I got a nice, crisp drawing without making impressions on the paper. At this size, that’s always a plus!

The beauty of colored pencil is that I don’t have to prepare surfaces, then wait for them to dry. I went to work immediately with the under painting using a Prismacolor Verithin in Dark Umber.

I chose Verithin because that line of pencil has a thinner, harder lead. It covers paper well without filling up the tooth and, since this paper (Rising Stonehenge) is fairly smooth, I like to be able to get the first layers of color down without filling up the tooth.

The background will be a textured green ranging from a nice mid-tone to a fairly dark color. Although I can do landscapes this size, the purpose with this portrait is to have the background play a minor supporting role. At one point, I considered using a colored paper and leaving the background untouched, but chose a white paper, instead.

I also worked on Lockkeeper. I have learned the hard way that if I don’t carefully ’save’ the highlights, I tend to work right over them. Unlike oils, where lights can be painted right over darks, it’s impossible to recover those nice, clean highlights once they’ve been worked into when using colored pencil.

So I am working the background loosely and working the horse carefully. At this point, though, it’s difficult to tell the difference!

This is a variation of the classical painting technique I use for oils.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Quiet Garden

September 22nd, 2008 | By Heather Anderson

Don’t you just love Autumn? The air is crisp, with a coolness under the warmth of the sun, and there is a sort of quiet, leashed energy gathering, just waiting to burst out in another week or so with blazing colors and star-flecked frosty nights. We have been busy taking the faded summer annuals out of the garden and replacing them with pots of bright Mums for that necessary Autumn zing, and of course the Shelties have been helping by carrying garden gloves and other light things.
My painting “Quiet Garden” celebrates this wonderful time of the year. This pair of Shih Tzus are having a moment to soak up some sun while they admire a pot of bronze Mums. “Quiet Garden” is a Colored Pencil painting and is available for purchase.

©Copyright 2008 by Heather Anderson. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Heather Anderson’s website.

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Black Morgan, Part 3

July 18th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

Black Morgan horse oil painting in progress by Carrie Lewis.Another third Wednesday, another colored pencil circle at the Carriage Factory Gallery, another working session on this colored pencil of a black Morgan mare.

This is roughly 8×10 on black Rising Stonehenge paper.

Progress certainly is slow when a painting gets attention only once a month, but the painting is progressing.

I spent most of my time working the trees in the background, but the same colors were also layered into the grass so that both areas were built up at about the same rate and the colors are cohesive.

Work began with Olive Green, which was layered into the trees primarily to cover some of the remaining black areas. I wanted a more dull green to enhance the shadows and Olive Green was exactly the right thing.

That was followed with Limepeel lightly layered over both trees and grass and, finally, Yellow Chartreuse over the lighter areas of trees and grass.

Because I am working around the horse, I also wanted to be especially careful to preserve the edges of legs, back, head and body. The mane and tail can be treated a little less carefully because some of those shapes were impressed into the paper on the first day.

At present, the background is coming along very nicely. At some point, I will have to begin working on the horse, though. Once both subject and background are at about the same level of completion, I can make any adjustments that need to be made.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Black Morgan, Part 2

June 19th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

Black Morgan colored pencil drawing in progress by Carrie LewisColored Pencil Circle is a Carriage Factory Gallery event we hold once a month. Every third Wednesday, those members and non-members alike who work in colored pencil gather for fellowship, to work on colored pencil projects, to share new techniques and materials and to have fun. It has been a small group to begin with, but with a core of artists that meets almost without fail every month.

Yesterday was Colored Pencil Circle day and I continued work on RWR Jasper. I am still working on the greens, but this session focused on the upper portions of the background.

The original photograph shows open field. I had decided early on in the project that I wanted to place Jasper against a background of green, so I needed to begin blocking in the trees in the background.

That process got a good start with a smattering of greens applied in a broad pattern of greens that became more specific with each layer of color.Colors used were:

  • Yellow Chartreuse
  • Chartreause
  • Jade Green
  • Apple Green
  • Olive Green
  • Cream

Before the background goes much further, I will have to look up one of the reference photographs that shows a fuller background so that I have an actual pattern of lights and darks to refer to. So far, the trees are all from memory and imagination, which isn’t a bad way to do things. But I have noticed my landscapes are quite a bit flatter when I paint them from imagination or memory than when I paint actual scenes.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Black Morgan, Part 1

June 18th, 2008 | By Carrie Lewis

black Morgan horseA new project and, for the first time in some time, a new colored pencil.

This portrait measures 11 inches wide by 8-1/2 inches tall edge to edge. Unless I ‘float’ the final image to preserve a wonderfully deckled edge, it will probably frame to 8×10.

The horse is RWR Jasper, a morgan mare from Sable Morgans, in Hagen, Saskatchewan, Canada.

This is not an official portrait, but it will be a painting of this specific mare. What that means is that it is a portrait I am doing for myself, not for a specific client.

I started this painting on the afternoon of Saturday, June 14 as one of two pieces to work on during the second evening of the “Fore” Party I attended this past weekend. I had intended to work on a different image, but found this one already drawn and waiting in my colored pencil case, so I decided to start both of them.

I chose black paper for two reasons. Jasper is a black horse with wonderful highlights and it seemed logical to use black paper for her portrait, especially since I started a second portrait of a bay horse and the only other piece of this paper was a light, dusty brown known as fawn.

The paper is Rising Stonehenge. It seems like no matter what other surfaces I try for colored pencil, I always return to Stonehenge. It can be a bit delicate when it comes to scratches and surface marks, but there is nothing like it that I’ve tried.

This is the line drawing on the paper. Kind of difficult to see because of the way the paper scanned, so I’ve adjusted the contrast to show the drawing. At this point, all I’d done was cover the back of the original drawing with Cloud Blue colored pencil and transfer it to the paper.

The next step was to begin blocking in color. Since most of the color in this image is going to be greens in one form or another and since the background affects the way the subject is seen, that’s what I started with.

Using Yellow Chartreuse, I began stroking in the grass around the horse and all the way to the bottom of the page. A very thin layer of broad, horizontal color was applied over the paper beginning with the top edge of Jasper’s cast shadow and working up toward where the horizon line will be.

A subsequent layer of the same color applied in the same manner, but only around the shadow created the look of receding color.

Next, I use short, vertical strokes to simulate grass. Sometimes, I worked with the paper in proper position, right-side up, and stroked upward with the pencil. Sometimes, I worked with the paper upside down (the top edge toward me) and stroked downward with the pencil. At all times, color was applied in an ‘upward’ direction relative to the paper. I turned my paper to vary the slant of strokes, though. That gives the grass a more realistic look.

This is what the painting looked like when I left the gallery on Saturday afternoon. Again, the scanner is a little too aggressive and washed out some of the color. It was much more vibrant in real life, but you can see how the darks in the portrait are beginning to be developed by applying light colors.

The evening proved to be a very good work time and I spent most of the three hours on this piece.

I continued working on the grass, but used a variety of colors, including Apple Green, Grass Green, Yellow Ochre and Canary Yellow, applied in no particular order. The only goal at this point was to give the grass a rich, velvetty look with natural greens. Since no green is made up of just one color, I used several different colors.

I also began adding highlights to the horse with Cloud Blue. In retrospect, I think a brighter blue, maybe Light Cerulean or Sky Blue, would have produced a much better look with less work, but at least the highlights were established and Jasper ceased to be a black hole in a field of green! That’s always a good thing!

There is also the hint of warm highlights right behind Jasper’s extended front leg, so I used Yellow Ochre for that and used some of the greens to establish reflected highlights along her belly.

Jasper’s portrait is now my official ‘travel piece’ and it made the journey to band practice with me last night, but was not worked on.

Today, Wednesday, June 18, is Colored Pencil Circle Day at the gallery, so I will be working on it as part of that regular, monthly event.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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