Pet Portrait of Mylo

I've been working on a 6x8" commissioned colored pencil portrait of this little dog, Mylo. I am working on Rtistx RTX300 board which has a nice tooth to accept the colored pencil and a surface I can varnish later. I can also cut the board and have nice smooth edges which I need because I'm going to frame this piece in a floater frame when it is completed.

For the first several layers of colored pencil I am working on the heated Icarus board in order to melt the pencil and have it go on smoothly and fill in the textured surface of the board where I need it. I can add more layers of pencil and build up the dogs fur with color and texture without too much of the textured board showing through. The Icarus board also helps mesh the pencil into the surface so I can build layers quicker. In these photos, the background hasn't been worked at all yet.

I'll post more photos when I have the portrait completed.

Coffee? Or Tea?

These are my latest small works in colored pencil. These are four 6x6" Utrecht Artists Wood Panels made of smooth basswood. I don't prime the surface, it will accept colored pencil very well although layers are limited to about three or more if using a very light pressure. My designs are transferred on using the image transfer method which I outlined in this previous blog entry. I use the transfer to skip the drawing step and add colored pencil directly onto the transfer, then I play with the background design for each cup. When I am finished I spray with two good coats of Krylon UV Resistant Clear and then brush on five coats of Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish, letting each coat dry in between. I photographed them together but will display them separately.

These two photos are of an exhibit I went to called Paper-Made at the Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown, RI. These are two photos of an overall view of the largest gallery. Eighteen regional, national and international artists were selected for this wonderful exhibit of works all made of paper. The curator states the paper art is an emerging global phenomenon and as an artist who works on paper, I am intrigued by the use of papers as a form of 2D and 3D sculpture. This exhibition has given me the inspiration to create another hand made book.