Yesterday I taught a one-day workshop on working with Neo Color II watercolor crayons as an underpainting and colored pencil on top. My five students had done little or no colored pencil in the past but are all artists working in different mediums. I've included the reference photo of the pears to show the colors and composition we would be working on. The surface we used was Ampersand Gessobord primed with Terra Cotta Colourfix. Pictured above are their drawings. This could actually be a 2-day workshop because there was not enough time to complete the work in one day. We began by lightly laying down one layer of the Neo Colors and next adding water with a brush and disolving the color to look like an underpainting wash. After this dried, students began working with the colored pencil and again adding some of the Neo Colors letting them blend with the pencil, not adding water this time. I love all of the results! A few of the students commented that their work didn't look like mine but I was happy that each person developed their own style and I could see influences of the other mediums they work in coming through. I was really excited with each of their drawings and hope they all take the time to complete them!
3 comments:
Fascinating process that I enjoy looking at Kendra.One day.....
I should have been at that workshop. I've never had much success with underpainting. Your paintings here are very interesting, seeing how the different shades affect the feel of the painting. I'd like to see more about underpainting, if you get a chance!
Katherine, too bad we don't live closer to each other! I will post more about the underpainting. What I've learned so far is that you have to put the NeoColors on lightly, if they're applied too heavily as the underpainting, you lose the texture of the surface and the pencil won't adhere. It takes some experimenting!
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