Botanicals in Color

Exercises to practice making feather-light pencil strokes

When I first registered for the botanical drawing class I’m taking at Gage, almost everything about it appealed to me – except that our only medium would be graphite. As much as I love using graphite (and I really do), the thought of 10 winter weeks of nothing but shades of gray gave me a frowny face. Amazingly, during the first session, I discovered another opportunity to learn botanical drawing – but with colored pencils! When I saw examples of the workshop instructor’s vibrant, luminous works of full-color flowers, butterflies and birds, I could not sign up fast enough!

The weekend workshop was with artist and certified natural science illustrator Crystal Shin, who has been a long-time student of Kathleen McKeehen, my current Gage instructor. The focus of Shin’s workshop was specifically in her techniques of colored pencil application that enable her to achieve the brilliant hues and luminosity that her work is known for.

My instructor's ogle-worthy pencils. Her favorite brand is Faber-Castell
Albrecht Durer, which she applies dry and does not activate with water.

Unlike the colored pencil classes I had taken previously, which emphasized using a relatively limited palette of earthy hues on our landscape subjects, Shin’s supply list encouraged students to bring as many colors as possible. Grabbing all 120 pencils in my Faber-Castell Polychromos set, I gleefully exclaimed, “Color – bring it!”

The hallmark of Shin’s technique is to use many pencils to “paint” what most of us might see as a single hue. On day 1, we focused on drawing a single holly berry. During a demo, we saw her apply as many as a dozen hues of yellow, pink, orange, red, violet and blue to achieve the berry’s redness. She takes full advantage of the blending qualities of the colored pencil medium to develop complex, life-like hues. Each application was so light that we had to squint to see her feathery pencil strokes. Indeed, she often used a magnifier to see her own work more closely. To maintain her extremely fine strokes, she keeps her pencils needle-sharp.

2/1/20 Result of day 1's work: a single holly berry

Emulating her technique, I stared at a single berry to try to identify all the hues visible, then picked out more than a dozen pencil colors that I thought I could see. The extremely time-consuming method resulted in the drawing shown here (it’s larger than life size – about 1-inch diameter).

On day 2 we were assigned to draw one (or more, if we were ambitious) holly leaf. Again, after watching her demo, I tried to select the full range of greens, yellows, blues and browns I saw. She also showed us how to incise lines for the leaf veins (my leaf drawing is life size).

2/2/20 Result of day 2's work: a single holly leaf

We were all a bit blurry-eyed and stiff-necked when we left the workshop (held at Winslow Art Center on Bainbridge Island), but I thoroughly enjoyed learning Shin’s techniques. I especially valued learning how to blend many, many pencil hues to develop rich, complex, natural colors. Practicing this color method will surely help make winter less gray!

Shin using a magnifier to see her work closely.

These are all the pencil colors I used for these two tiny drawings. I kept 'em sharp!

White Poodle

2/2/20 canine commuter

I first spotted the elderly woman and her white poodle at the transit center, where we all boarded the 41 southbound. They sat in the seat that I had the best view of from mine. I could have sketched her, but I have fewer opportunities to sketch dogs than people, so I went for the pooch. Just as I snapped a photo of the sketch, she rang the bell for her stop. For me, the best part of the sketch was done – I had sketched. I tore it out of my sketchbook and gave it to her as she got up to leave. I knew the sketch would mean more to her than it did to me.

An Adventure on Bainbridge

2/1/20 Seattle Ferry Terminal

Last weekend I had an opportunity to take a workshop in Winslow on Bainbridge Island (a report on the workshop coming soon). It’s not far away, but riding the ferry for 35 minutes always makes me feel like I’m going on a little adventure.

Normally, if I make a trip to Bainbridge, it’s in the summer when I can enjoy the water view and the fun galleries, shops and cafes there. In the dead of winter, not as many tourists have packed the town. With a few minutes to kill before my workshop, I looked down from the Winslow Mall’s upper level to sketch the locals queued up for coffee and pastries at Covet Bakery’s kiosk.

2/1/20 Winslow Mall

Tina’s Top Colored Pencils

Always at the top: Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle

Seeing how many colored pencils I’ve tried, many readers have asked me to name the “best” or at least my favorites. Since the hidden thought behind the question is often, “I want some good colored pencils; tell me what to buy,” I’m a little reluctant to answer. Beyond the basic factor of quality, the characteristics of my favorite pencils or what I consider to be the “best” are often idiosyncratic to the type of work I like to do – or just plain idiosyncratic. Like almost everything, art supplies are personal. What I’ve found to be the best for me might not be appropriate for someone else.

That said, I can think of almost nothing I enjoy more than talking about my favorite colored pencils (except maybe using them), especially on a dreary, rainy day. So, for your consideration (with the caveat of the first paragraph in mind), here are my top colored pencils. These are not ranked numerically. Instead, I’ve categorized them by pencil type (and couldn’t resist runners-up and honorable mentions). I’ve also included my reasons for choosing them. All in the top and contemporary runner-up listings are available open stock, which is a critical criterion. All contemporary selections are also considered artist quality, though I haven’t tested lightfastness myself.

Water-soluble colored pencils

Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle (above) – Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised by this choice; I seem to mention Museum Aquarelles any time I talk about my urban sketching process and how well these pencils meet my needs. These artist quality pencils have extremely soft, thick, heavily pigmented cores that make it much easier to apply a load of color efficiently and effectively in the field (discussed in my recent post about my minimalism challenge). If I had hours and hours to complete a drawing at the comfort of my desk, I might choose a different pencil (certainly a harder core would retain a point longer and require less frequent sharpening). But my No. 1 priority for any art material is whether it facilitates sketching on location. Museum Aquarelles fulfill that requirement better than any other pencil I’ve used.

Watercolor (contemporary) runner-up: Cd'A Supracolor

Runner up (contemporary): Caran d’Ache Supracolor – Just one notch below Museum Aquarelles in price and quality, the Supracolor line is much wider, so when I need colors I can’t get in the Museum line, they are easily found among Supracolors. Not quite as soft or thick, Supracolors are what I would be using if I hadn’t discovered Museum Aquarelles.

Runner up (vintage): Sanford Prismacolor Watercolor – This vintage pencil is just as soft and creamy as its traditional, wax-based counterpart (see below) and nearly as pigmented as Cd’A Museum Aquarelles. Unlike traditional Prismacolors, however, I’ve only ever seen

Watercolor (vintage) runner up: Sanford Prismacolor
Watercolor

them branded by Sanford. Apparently the largest set produced was 36, but among them is a lovely brick red that is a daily-carry to supplement my usual Museum Aquarelle assortment, which sadly lacks a good brick red. (Unfortunately, these pencils are relatively difficult to find.)

Traditional colored pencils

Traditional: Faber-Castell Polychromos

Traditional (contemporary) runner-up: Cd'A Pablo

Faber-Castell Polychromos – Given how much I love the softness of Museum Aquarelles, oil-based Polychromos might seem a surprising choice in the traditional category: They are significantly harder than many artist quality colored pencils, such as Caran d’Ache Luminance and Derwent Lightfast. Since I rarely use traditional colored pencils in the field, my priority for this category is potentially more detailed work that I might do at my desk. These pencils retain their points well while still layering and blending beautifully. For the work I do, they strike the ideal balance between softness (for ease of application) and hardness (for detailed work). I also appreciate that oil-based pencils do not exhibit the hazy bloom that wax-based pencils sometimes do.

Runner up (contemporary): Caran d’Ache Pablo – Softer than Polychromos, oil-based Pablo pencils also strike a nice balance between too soft and too hard. I like using Pablos alongside Polychromos because the two competing product lines include different hues, so if I can’t find what I need in one line, it’s probably available in the other. (All other factors being equal, buying a set from each of two competing makers is a good general strategy if you are trying to acquire the widest range of hues. Lines within the same manufacturer will tend to have the same colors.)

Traditional (vintage) runner-up: Prismacolor

I had difficulty choosing only one contemporary runner up. Derwent Lighfast is much softer than Pablo but is also delightful to use.

Runner up (vintage): US-made (1990s and earlier) Prismacolor – There’s a good reason why Eagle-, Sanford- and Berol-branded Prismacolor pencils are hoarded by colored pencil artists. Among the softest, their wax-based cores have a creamy consistency that layers and blends easily. The only problem is that they are now available only at vintage eBay prices. Their contemporary namesake, Prismacolor Premier, might look similar, but it has been made outside the US for many years, and the quality is unpredictable. While some people have had no problems, I experienced core breakage almost every time I sharpened; I ended up tossing the whole (thankfully small) set. The good news is that vintage sets are readily available on eBay. Although boxed mint sets are pricey, sets with a few pencils missing or a bit used can be found at prices close to contemporary sets. A similar favorite among vintage wax-based pencils is Design or Venus Spectracolor, but they are much harder to find and more expensive.

Honorable mention (also known as the Eye Candy category)

Contemporary: Tombow Irojiten – In the original “dictionary” boxed sets, these are among the loveliest colored pencils I’ve seen, including their presentation. Although they didn’t make my “top” list, they aren’t just a pretty face; Irojiten pencils are very pleasant to use, neither too soft nor too hard. In addition, the palette contains some unique hues not found in other sets.

 

A bouquet of beautiful Irojiten

Vintage: Eagle Magicolor – I would not choose these for use. But these fine ladies have aged beautifully. Their end caps alone make me swoon.

Ladies in their lovely hats

Huge, Flaky and Buttery

1/30/20 National Croissant Day

How did you celebrate National Croissant Day? Last year I had to resort to Starbucks for my pastry fix because I didn’t plan the day well. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. This time, Nilda and I met at Honore Bakery, where the croissants are available both savory and sweet. I opted for a classic croissant with raspberry jam.

You know me – I rarely get around to sketching my food because I’m more likely to devour it immediately. Obviously, on this special day, I restrained myself long enough to sketch it. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph it before I ripped it apart. 

The last time I was at Honore, the chocolate cake I sketched was decorated with a marzipan bee. I didn’t understand the significance of the bee until I picked up Honore’s card and saw that the bee is part of the bakery’s logo.

Mmmm.... yes, it was as good as it looks.

Secondary Triad Experiments

1/25/20 Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelles (orange 030, green 245, purple 131)
in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

While I was busily having fun with my primary triad experiments, a comment from a reader reminded me how much I love secondary triads. I’ve long been attracted to the secondary palette for our home (the walls of one bathroom are purple and green with orange towels, for example, and my Fiestaware is in that palette) and accessories like my bags. It was Suzanne Brooker’s colored pencil class, however, that opened my eyes to how lively the palette can be to work with, especially when depicting natural landscapes.

It’s not necessarily an easy palette to use, though. Unlike the primaries that mix easily by twos into potentially lovely greens, oranges and violets, the secondaries mix mainly into warmer or cooler shades of brown (which is one reason they are so conducive to nature), so the potential for mud is higher. But what’s the fun in anything without a built-in challenge?

A pear would have worked well for these experiments, but short of that, I chose a gourd that I bought last fall (perhaps it’s made of plastic, as it shows no signs of ever going bad! I can’t stand the warty ones, but this one has only a few, so I decided the colors were worth the warts). My first try (above) was a warm triad in Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles (orange 030, green 245 [incorrectly labeled in my sketch swatch], purple 131). The washed areas of the orange turned out to be much warmer than I expected, lending a nice contrast to the orange. Watercolor pencil pigments often activate into an entirely different hue, and it’s a nice surprise when that hue turns out to be just right. This sketch has the most “realistic” colors compared to the actual gourd. The shadow is a nice, complex brown that’s not muddy.

1/29/20 Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer (Dark Cadmium Orange 115,
Dark Phthalo Green 264, Purple Violet 136) in S&B Beta

My second shot was an all-cool palette using Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer (Dark Cadmium Orange 115, Dark Phthalo Green 264, Purple Violet 136). Yes, it’s the same gourd! Despite the unnatural hues, the contrast is highest in this sketch. This time, the cast shadow is a cool gray that came out better than I expected. (I must say, the more I use Albrecht Durer pencils, the less I like them. I know this artist quality line has a lot of fans, and sometimes it’s nice to have a harder core. I also enjoy having an alternative range of hues from my usual Caran d’Ache favorites; if I can’t find what I need in Cd’A, it’s usually in F-C’s range. But the Durer cores always strike me as unpleasantly “sticky” when applied. Nothing against the product’s quality – it’s just an idiosyncratic thing.)

1/29/20 Faber-Castell Polychromos (Cadmium Orange 111, Permanent Green 266,
Manganese Violet 160) in S&B Epsilon

Using Faber-Castell Polychromos for my last sketch, I found a warm triad again (Cadmium Orange 111, Permanent Green 266, Manganese Violet 160). Although the swatches look similar to my first try with Museum Aquarelles, the cast shadow is muddier. And with dry pencils, it was difficult to show contrast between the orange stripes and the background.

I don’t think the secondaries will keep me quite as busy as the primaries did, but it’s always illuminating to experiment this way. And doing these sketches reminded me how fresh this palette can be; I want to keep secondaries in mind when I’m in the field.

Pre-Gab & Grab Doughnut Do

1/31/20 A chocolate-frosted Bavarian cream at Top Pot Doughnuts!

Before heading to Seattle USk’s seventh annual Gab & Grab, a few of us met up at the nearby Top Pot Doughnuts. The last time I sketched at the Wedgwood Top Pot was a couple of summers ago on National Donut Day, when it was warm and sunny. I never got around to sketching my donut that day, so I made up for it this time. Cold, wet and blustery, the morning was just right for sketching indoors with good friends.

A good morning for sketching indoors.

Natalie's sketch of me eating my messy, oozing doughnut!