Saturday, July 20, 2013

Converse Sneakers


Last fall while our studio Art Boot Camp students were drawing from a variety of shoes, I began thinking about a composition of just the two pairs on contrasting Converse sneakers. I put the mens' black high tops with the womens' regular red sneakers. I'm working on UArt paper and the size is approximately 24x24". I started with a study of just the red sneakers (previous post) but was too intrigued with the larger piece so I abandoned the study for now and jumped right into the large drawing.

I love working on the UArt paper, it is one of my favorite surfaces for colored pencil. Because it is a rough sanded surface, it can take many layers of pencil and give me rich color in my drawings. I also like it because I can apply light colors over dark colors and they blend nicely. The lighter colors applied with a heavy pressure will also help burnish the piece to eliminate the texture showing through. I also burnish using a short flat bristle brush to rub out the texture in the paper.

My favorite part of the drawing is the shoelaces, I began with them using only whites and cool grays then added some light blues and purples. For pencils I used mostly Prismacolor and a few Coloursofts.

Take a look at the Colored Pencil Society of America's latest blog postings. Many of CPSA members, myself included, have donated a small piece for the silent auction. All of the pieces up for auction are posted in four different blog entries. There are some beauties! However, you must be present to bid and win and the auction takes place at the international exhibition in Brea, CA.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Red Sneakers


My drawing is a study for a much larger piece that I'm working on, but this one is 6x8" on 2" cradled Ampersand Gessobord in which I have applied a layer of Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer in a blue that I don't think they make anymore because I don't see it on their page. However, there are many other wonderful colors and I like the texture for my colored pencil. I bought a pair of bright red Converse sneakers at an outlet store and haven't worn them yet because I want to keep them pristine for my drawings. In the study and in my larger piece, I am loving working on the laces; the subtle grays tinged with color and the way they move and fall off the page. I am applying the colored pencil and then softening it with odorless mineral spirits to make it move around like paint and entirely cover the surface.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Coffee and Tea


I did an colored pencil demo for Hope Gallery during the Bristol/Warren Art Night last week. I brought samples of my smaller works and did a demo of colored pencil and solvent on 6x8" cradled Ampersand Gessobord. My subject is the pair of red sneakers which are in front of me and I am also working from a photo of them. The lighting and the shadows in the photo are just the way I want them to be and that way I can keep the lighting consistent if I work in different locations. Approximately 80 visitors came to the gallery while I was there, many were friends or fellow artists and I really appreciated the wonderful turnout. I must also thank Krzysztof Matthews for taking this photo of me and give him the photo credit.



Here are three 6x6" image transfer and colored pencil drawings I have done on Utrecht wood panels. The question I am asked most is if I prepare the wood and the answer is no, I work directly on the wood. First I transfer my black and white image on the wood as I described in this post, and then I work right over it with colored pencil. I added backgrounds to the coffee cups and left the natural wood background behind the tea cup and pot showing. These three pieces are hanging at Angelina's coffee shop in Bristol, RI during the month of July along with several other works by myself and other CPSA members from New England; Debbi Friedman, Naomi Aho, Kathie Miranda, Kathy Clericuzio and Liz Patterson.