12/14/15 water-soluble colored pencils |
When I first glanced at the cardinal on the cover of one of
the hundreds of catalogs we’ve received in the mail so far this season, it
seemed like such a holiday cliché. But the more I looked at it, the more I
appreciated the beautiful photo, and when I looked carefully at the bird’s red
feathers, I realized “red” was an enormous over-simplification. The color is
actually a complex blend of many shades of red, orange and even a little dark
purple, blue and yellow. Suddenly it transformed from a catalog cliché to ideal
colored pencil practice material.
In case you haven’t guessed by now, I have a lot of colored pencils – mostly the water-soluble
kind, but also quite a few of the regular kind. I pulled out about 20 versions
of red, red-orange and orange, as well as a few other colors, to try to get the
right mix. I used water only on the beak, the eye and the berries, plus a few
brush strokes to bring out the wing feathers and shadows. For most of the feathers, though,
I preferred the pencil strokes showing.
By the way, if you’re not familiar with the work of Australian urban
sketcher Alissa Duke, please check out her Flickr photostream. She’s my urban sketching colored pencil guru – I admire the
delicacy of her exquisite drawings as well as her skill with water-soluble
colored pencils.
I have quite a few colored pencils. . . |
. . . OK, I have a LOT. You can't even see the ones UNDER the desk. . . |
Hi Tina, I love the cardinal you sketched! I saved the cover of that same catalog to attempt with watercolor in the future. I like your idea of colored pencils. My collection of pencils is a bit smaller, but I'll give it a go! Wishing you a happy new year from Wenatchee! Becky Britt
ReplyDeleteI've saved the cover, and I might try it with watercolors sometime, too. Thanks, Becky, and happy new year to you, too!
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