A while back I tooled up with colored pencils but quickly moved on. Here's Friday night's sketch with Polychromos. I spent about three hours here, experimenting with blending and then burnishing with Ivory.
Did you enjoy the time spent? It is a very different way of working but I really like the texture and effects you can get and am just starting to explore burnishing and I find it therapeutic in a way I don't yet with watercolour. I like the movement you have caught in the crab apple leaves and am curious to know how many shades of green you used.
I used mostly three shades of green: Chrome Oxide Green #278 Permanent Green Olive #167 Earth Green Yellowish #168 Also just a little bit of Cadmium Yellow Lemon #205 for some of the petioles.
Indeed, I also find colored pencil meditative. No worries with proper wetness or unalterable mistakes. The pigment lifts surprisingly easy with kneaded eraser.
I did enjoy using these and might try some more later today. I had difficulties with the leaves because although they are still green in water, they've all bunched up and I have lost the arrangement. So, I also lost the highlight and shadow and had to invent it! :-)
I'm back and what a wonderful sight to greet my eyes! These leaves are fabulous! I have yet to read through all your past posts which I have missed but a quick scroll through the pages looks like I will be spending quite a bit of time on Nuncketest this evening getting myself all caught up. I did notice your new book "Botanical Sketchbook"- I will be looking into that title asap and my late cat Momo had the same little vet toy! In fact, I still have it- one of the few of his favorite little toys that I'm just not ready to part with yet, beat up as it may be. And all those gorgeous pigments! Can't wait to read all about them! Oh, and that butterfly wing positively sent me over the moon! I too have always felt that colored pencil work is the most meditative of all the mediums I have tried to date; It is ever so calming (downright therapeutic as threadspider says) and I find hours can pass so quickly; and like you, the freedom from making uncorrectable mistakes allows the mind to delve deeper into the artistic experience as a whole. So good to be back! ~gretchen
Did you enjoy the time spent? It is a very different way of working but I really like the texture and effects you can get and am just starting to explore burnishing and I find it therapeutic in a way I don't yet with watercolour.
ReplyDeleteI like the movement you have caught in the crab apple leaves and am curious to know how many shades of green you used.
I used mostly three shades of green:
ReplyDeleteChrome Oxide Green #278
Permanent Green Olive #167
Earth Green Yellowish #168
Also just a little bit of Cadmium Yellow Lemon #205 for some of the petioles.
Indeed, I also find colored pencil meditative. No worries with proper wetness or unalterable mistakes. The pigment lifts surprisingly easy with kneaded eraser.
I did enjoy using these and might try some more later today. I had difficulties with the leaves because although they are still green in water, they've all bunched up and I have lost the arrangement. So, I also lost the highlight and shadow and had to invent it! :-)
I'm back and what a wonderful sight to greet my eyes! These leaves are fabulous! I have yet to read through all your past posts which I have missed but a quick scroll through the pages looks like I will be spending quite a bit of time on Nuncketest this evening getting myself all caught up.
ReplyDeleteI did notice your new book "Botanical Sketchbook"- I will be looking into that title asap and my late cat Momo had the same little vet toy! In fact, I still have it- one of the few of his favorite little toys that I'm just not ready to part with yet, beat up as it may be. And all those gorgeous pigments! Can't wait to read all about them! Oh, and that butterfly wing positively sent me over the moon!
I too have always felt that colored pencil work is the most meditative of all the mediums I have tried to date; It is ever so calming (downright therapeutic as threadspider says) and I find hours can pass so quickly; and like you, the freedom from making uncorrectable mistakes allows the mind to delve deeper into the artistic experience as a whole.
So good to be back!
~gretchen
Well, well, well... Welcome back! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the portability of colored pencil. In fact, I'm on my out to the deck with a few leaves, my pencils, and a pad of Stonehenge. Life is good. :-)
Hey Gretchen, maybe you need to get a few kitties to go with the new place?