Dissection

3/4/20 Museum Aquarelle, Supracolor, Prismacolor, Polychromos in S&B Zeta sketchbook

In a botanical drawing class handout that I received from instructor Kathleen McKeehen, plant dissection is discussed and shown – the how-to’s of carefully cutting open the private parts of flowers to draw the hidden innards. I’m glad it’s not a class requirement, as I’m not too much into floral surgery. However, I have no such hesitation about putting entire bell peppers under the knife.

Cut top to bottom, the green one resembles the ventricles of a heart. I chose an unlikely mish-mash of colored pencils – oil-based, wax-based, water-soluble, vintage and contemporary. The method to my madness was a desire for both rich hues where needed and fine details in the seedy area. The purple cast shadow was a whim. I like the color, but I always think of Stillman & Birn Zeta as having a smooth surface, so I was surprised that the soft Prismacolor revealed so much texture.

3/5/20 Museum Aquarelle, Irojiten, Polychromos

Since most of that eclectic combo of pencils worked well together, I decided to try the strategy again. This time I cut a diagonal cross-section through the red pepper. Most of the luscious color came from Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle with some detail help from Tombow Irojiten and Faber-Castell Polychromos (the latter two are among my hardest high-quality brands). I used the same Zeta sketchbook, but the harder Polychromos showed less of the paper’s tooth.

For more thoughts on why I like using both hard and soft pencils together, here are a few more posts on the subject:

Soft and Hard

Soft and Hard, Part 2: Water-Soluble Colored Pencils

Hard and Soft