Just about finished

I got carried away and just about finished the piece. The surface is really gritty because I made my own ground and I think I put a little too much pumice powder in it. I'm having a difficult time getting the pencil go lay smoothly and fill in the grooves. I've tried burnishing with a hard pencil and also with a colorless blender and its not working. So I will put it aside for a day or two and go back to it and see if I come up with any other ideas. The background is done with several shades of blue and solvent. The solvent helped smooth out the background. I suppose I could use the solvent on the whole piece but I'm afraid it might give the apples a heavy, possibly muddy look.

Candy apples in progress

Working on the apples and the reflections first. This surface is so gritty and textured that it will take many layers of pencil. It also eats the pencils rather quickly. I like this surface because I can burnish light colors over dark colors. This really makes the colors vibrant and gives the area luminosity.

Candy Apples

I started this piece today on a 6x6" gessoboard. I've sold all of my candy apple pieces so I'll start a few more.

I am experimenting with making my own colored grounds. This ground is made from Golden Acrylic Ground for Pastel + water + red acrylic paint + orange acrylic paint + a little pumice powder. Don't ask for precise measurements, I mix like I cook ... I never measure! I like this ground because its very textured and takes the pencil quickly. I've chosen to begin by laying in the colorful highlights. 

finished tarts

Here are the finished tarts. I the finished piece, although it has an overall pink tone. I'm still trying to decide if I would try that again. I may just look at this piece for a few days or a week and make some changes.

Tarts

This is a small 6x8" piece I'm working on for a holiday small picture show. My reference photo is from a bakery in Italy with the most delectable little pastries that caught my attention in more ways than one. I'm experimenting with a different surface which I prepared myself. I started with a gessoboard, then mixed white Colourfix liquid primer with red & yellow acrylic paint and rolled it on the gessoboard. To that I added pumice powder to add more grit to the surface texture. The result is a hot pink background that is taking the pencil very quickly. I've done this much of the drawing in only a few hours today.

More cherries ....

I drew this piece earlier in the year. Its colored pencil on the Ampersand Cradled Gessoboard with a layer of Colourfix Primer (Storm Blue) on the Gessoboard. Its been sitting in my studio and I've been looking at the cherries and wanting to make them brighter. So one day I picked up a paint brush and put out my oil paints and decided to experiment with putting oils over the colored pencil. Since I had a light layer of varnish on the colored pencil, the oil paint brushed on smooth. I was able to achieve some really bright reds, oranges and highlights on the cherries and am pleased with the result. Its kind of fun experimenting & combining the mediums.