Wren - Colored Pencil

I've been back at the drawing table and have some good things to show for it. This House Wren is Prismacolor colored pencils on smooth bristol.

It's a combination of birds and a theme from years ago: ribbons. It's monochromatic in browns and yellows with some black and white. It felt good to combine the two things and see what happened.

After the splashy paintings, I wanted delicacy and lightness and this does that nicely - I'm especially pleased with the white space. It's finished size 8 x 10. The gray shadow is from the scanner - I'll have to rescan to use this for cards or prints.

This is the first of four, with three completed. They're all monochromatic and three are finished. I'll post the others soon.

The Blue Jay watercolor from a couple posts ago is ready and in my Etsy shop as a notecard. Bonus for you: buy a package of cards (any of them) and let me know you're a reader here (just type the word "blog" into the notes/instructions) and I'll send you a free gift with your purchase!

One last thing! I'm working on moving this blog over to my main website and it'll be ready soon. Of course, I'm still working out the technical stuff but will keep you posted. It's looking good and it's going to be nice to have everything under one "roof."

Drawing of a Robin - Colored Pencil

This soft sweet Robin is in the same series as the Cardinals. It's 5x7, on Champagne Mi Tientes paper (smooth side) and done in Prismacolor Pencils.

For this one, I ended up with a few more colors than usual: Indigo, Periwinkle, Mineral Orange, Yellow Ocher, Black and White. The blue and orange tones are complements and work together nicely even though Robins in life don't have much blue in their feathers.

The softness of this drawing is very apparent, to me anyway, and adds a sweet look to the subject. That wasn't my goal when I started but I did work with it as it appeared.

The entire back of the bird is suggested but not drawn clearly or just plain missing. I'm still experimenting with the pencils to see how loose I can go. This may be getting close to the boundry of "not enough" - we'll see where it ends up.

Drawings! Cardinals! In Colored Pencil!

OK, so that's a lot of excitement up there in the title. But, it's been such a long while since I posted and almost as long since drawing and painting that I got kind of wound up.

This is the first drawing after being away for while and I could sure tell in my rusty hands and eyes. It's sketched lightly on Champagne Mi Tientes and then the color is worked in with Prismacolor colored pencils. In trying to stick with limited colors, I chose Tuscan Red, Scarlet, Poppy Red, White and Black.

Overall, it's OK but I didn't like the texture of the paper - too mechanical. Nor am I happy with the stiffness and lack of life in the bird; perhaps it's a bit overworked.

So, I did another drawing exactly the same- sort of.



Here's Cardinal #2, same paper (except on the smooth side), same size (5x7), and the same colors. To me, it seems fresher even if there's less detail. This one was much easier to draw and complete; I could feel myself loosening up as it progressed.

Colored pencils are a big draw for me, but I'm still getting comfortable with how I want to use them in a less precise manner. I'm enjoying exploring these small drawings and am trying to do some everyday. I've got another couple to show very soon.

Thanks for looking and any thoughts and comments are always appreciated.

Colored Pencil Drawing - Clay Face

This is a sketch of my clay face from the previous post. The paper is Canson Mi Tientes in some shade of buff with Prismacolor pencils in White and Sepia.

The color choices for the pencils and the personality around the eyes are pleasing. However, I'm less pleased with how the mouth and chin look. It's obvious from this drawing (and another that I'm not posting) that the anatomy of the model's mouth and chin are not correct.

Until now, I was confident (perhaps overconfident) that I had a good grasp of facial anatomy. Certainly, I can draw and paint the face and portraits with some aptitude, but that's just not the same as making a 3D model. This has really shown me where I could use some more information.

So, that started me on a study of facial anatomy. First, I'm making a study of the skull and then the muscles of the mouth and chin. Look for those soon!

Western Red Tailed Hawk Drawing - Colored Pencil on Dark Paper

I enjoyed drawing the hawk in the earlier post so much, I thought I'd try again. Here's a 5 x 7 Western Red Tailed Hawk drawn on Mi Tientes paper with Prismacolor pencils. Again I used a minimal palette of Indigo Blue, Dark Umber, Light Umber, Goldenrod, White and a touch of Black. I don't know the color name of the paper, but it is very dark and cool toned.

In hindsight, I would have done this differently. This color is incredibly hard to see to draw! My initial sketch lines - which are usually very light as is my habit - were nearly invisible. Also, the colors I chose harmonize well with the subject and the paper, but seem to lack sparkle.

There's some of this paper left and next time, I'll try a white bird for that lift it seems to need. Either way, I'm still pleased with how the hawk turned out, especially the expression, and it was really fun to do.

I'm still experimenting with watercolor toned grounds, but it looks like an art supply order for more colored paper is in the making!

Derwent Graphitint Colored Pencil Lightfastness Test

Graphitint pencils – graphite with color – seem like a perfect marriage of the wonderful qualities of working with graphite pencils with the excitement of color. Granted, the colors are muted and complex but those are some of my favorite colors.

Anyway, there I was all excited about them and then heard of a problem. In response to a comment from another artist who used the pencils in a journal where they had faded, I decide to perform my own, completely non scientific, lightfastness test.

The test was performed on a set of twelve Derwent Graphitint colored pencils. The color names in the set: Storm 18, Midnight Black 20, Chestnut 13, Port 01, Ivy 11, Aubergine 03, Coal Grey 23, Cloud Grey 22, Dark Indigo 04, Cool Brown 15, Slate Green 08, Cocoa 16. (Sorry they’re not in numerical order – it’s the order I put them on the sample card.)

I started August 17, 2008 by placing the sample, with the left side covered, in bright light from a south facing window but no direct sunlight. It was allowed to rest in the window for 14 days. During this time, there were a few more cloudy days than usual due to tropical storms in the area. I live in east central Florida where we have sunshine and bright light most every day of the year.

At the end of this first phase, there appeared to be no change in color of any sample. That’s a good start, but I then decided to subject the sample to direct sunlight for the same time period. While most people don’t display artwork in these conditions, it seemed an extreme test might be useful.

After 14 days of daily exposure to direct morning sunlight, there were two colors that had faded markedly – Chestnut 13 and Ivy 11 – and one that had faded somewhat – Cocoa 16. The two colors that faded the most lost all the apparent color and left only the graphite. The third color, Cocoa, faded some but the original brown color is still discernible. The other colors were unchanged to my eye.

In reviewing my results and the official lightfastness ratings from Derwent, I noticed significant differences in some of the colors. The colors that faded the most in my test are rated as lightfast and one of the colors that they rate quite low on the scale (Aubergine 03) did not fade at all in my test. Also, other colors (Dark Indigo 04 and Storm 18) are rated as not being fully lightfast by Derwent but they also did not fade in my test.

To conclude, I will say again that my method was completely unscientific though it gives me enough confidence to use the pencils in my own artwork. I will take some care with color choices and stay away from those that faded in my test. I’ll also use the ones with the lower Derwent ratings with care. If you are using these pencils and are concerned about fading, please conduct your own tests and review the manufacturer’s ratings for yourself before proceeding.

Now, it’s time to actually make some art!