Marbles

This week, the assignment I gave my evening class was to pick a few marbles and draw them on Parma (colored) Canson Mi Tientes paper. We also set the marbles on a square of the same colored fabric so they were able to draw exactly what they saw. At first glance, they all thought it would be a difficult assignment. However, as they got working, they began to enjoy laying on the colors and reflections just as they appeared on the glass without worrying too much about values and creating a rounded form with value. I drew along with the class so here is my drawing so far.

Shells and more shells

I've started a new piece (which is a little distorted in this photo!). I'm working on 6x24" cradled gessoboard to which I've applied a layer of Raw Sienna colored Colourfix Primer. On the top is the reference photo that I am working from. I started by laying in my whites and lightest blues on the shells, you can't really see my line drawing in white. I've also placed my darkest darks as a reference point to work from. There are so many elements in this piece that easily gets confusing. I like the composition and the long rectangular format. Today I was working outside on my deck in 85º weather because the sun felt so good. While working in the sun, I learned something interesting, the colored pencil starts to melt and adheres to the surface really smoothly. Its almost like working with the solvent but the pencil doesn't mush as much as when using solvent. I'm going to experiment more with this, as long as I can stand the heat!

Little Compton Summer Art Exhibit

Summer art exhibit at the Little Compton, RI Community Center. Opening reception is tonight 6-8 p.m. and the exhibit continues Saturday and Sunday from 10-4. Proceeds benefit the community center and its projects. This is always a nice exhibit to view and a nice ride through scenic Little Compton.

Espresso & Pastry

After a week of house guests and July 4th festivities, I really needed to get back to drawing. I was craving my colored pencils and some quiet time in my studio! The lesson for my Tuesday morning class was to work on a small still life set up of a coffee cup, a spoon and a cookie. While they worked, I worked. I finished this small drawing in a few hours and it felt like therapy to pick up those pencils again. One of my students asked how was I going to render a black cup while I prefer not to use a black colored pencil? Good question. I prefer to mix darks instead of using a black pencil because black by itself seems to look flat. So I decided to challenge myself and use the black pencil, in which I laid down first for my darkest areas on the cup. To the black, I then added indigo blue, true blue, black grape, terra cotta and cool gray 90%, 70% & 50% to give the cup depth and reflections. Looking at the drawing now that it is scanned into the computer, I see that I need to pick up the pencils again and fix the hard line under the saucer.

Providence Art Club opening

Here are photos of my art exhibit opening at Providence Art Club in the Maxwell Mays Gallery. My work is being shown with oil painter Jim Kubiatowicz so we titled our exhibit "Paint and Pencil". We had a successful opening and both had sales of artwork! Come see the exhibit if you get to Providence, it is showing until Friday, July 10.

Yellow Lily - Class Lesson

For my Tuesday colored pencil classes, I had everyone work on a small still life of a yellow lily from my garden in a small glass jar. I had them draw this on Terra Cotta Canford paper to experience drawing on a colored paper. The Canford paper is relatively smooth so it doesn't take a lot of pencil layers. We found the best way to apply color was to juxtapose, lay colors side by side. Rendering the soft yellows was also a challenge on the red paper, but at the end everyone had a nice drawing. I worked along with the class and here is my drawing.