Siamese Cat in Luscious Colors

 

Have you tried the Derwent Tinted Charcoal? The colors are so lovely. The lend themselves nicely to drawings of subjects in a more natural setting. And they are perfect for Siamese cats! Charcoal has a reputation for being bold, even visually "loud". If you love the colors but are a bit intimidated by the fact that they are charcoal, this is the workshop for you. I use techniques with charcoal that bring softer results than is typically imagined with charcoal. And these tinted colors are wonderful to work with. 

Students at any drawing level can enjoy success in this workshop.  I give detailed step by step instructions. You can even email me with your questions or scans of your drawing as you work so that I can help you. This is a video workshop so you can watch it as many times as you wish at whatever hour your creative juices are most active. Join me! We'll have fun. 

Click here to join Siamese in Tinted Charcoal.

Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

New Faces and More

This winter has been one of pondering and looking at old things with a new eye. I am moving in a slightly different direction with my art and it has brought about some necessary introspection.  Now, in the description of this blog I say that my art focuses on the delights of life, mostly on the relationship between children and animals.  And that continues to be true.   And in recent years I have spent much more time creating pencil art than painting or working in collage.   And that continues to be true.   The truth is the changes stirring now may seem much bigger to me than to the one viewing the art.   We'll see what you think in time.   As my pondering has been on a very personal level, I've not shared the process.  But soon I will begin sharing the artistic results.

In the meantime, I have completed two more faces for the 100 Faces in 365 Days project.  These faces are quite imperfect as they are journal faces and not polished completed portraits.   But as I perpetually tell my students, journal pages should be fun and free from the confines of perfection. And so I share them here.

This tiger cub is Derwent Graphic Pencil on Moleskine soft cover journal.  The paper is not the best for blending graphite and it is buckled as a layer of paint was added to the back of the page on another day.  I do like the expression in his sweet curious eyes.

This is a pretty small drawing (about 3" x 4") done with Derwent Tinted Charcoal on Strathmore 500 Charcoal Paper.  I've never been fond of charcoal paper as I don't like the grid-like texture.  I was hoping the 500 charcoal paper would have a less invasive texture than what I had experienced previously in lesser charcoal papers.  And it was better.  But the grid still shows more than I prefer.  

I usually use Vellum Bristol Board paper or Mixed Media Paper for charcoal.  It has enough tooth to cooperate with the charcoal but has no distinctive texture to distract from the drawing.  But its white and I yearn to draw on colors.  

I love the colors of the Strathmore Toned Paper.  The particular gray and Kraft brown are so pretty and they look amazing with the Tinted Charcoal.  But the paper is just a bit too smooth to work as well as I would like with charcoal, especially to get detail in shading.   I contacted Strathmore pleading with them to make Bristol Board Vellum in the Toned Paper colors.  They said they would consider it but asked me to consider their 500 Charcoal papers.  Besides the ever present charcoal grid texture, the charcoal paper colors are not the same as the nice pretty Toned Paper colors.  And so, I am back at square one.   So, that's my 2 cents on that matter.  

I am joining the bandwagon for Bloglovin'.  I know, I know.... I'm a little late on this.  But, better late than not at all, right?  I'd love for you to join me there.    Follow my blog with Bloglovin


 
Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

On My Worktable Today

Kate, Micah, & our duck Gretchen

My daughter has a gift for color.   She has done unusual things with color her whole life.   When she was 7 she used to wear 2 pairs of socks - every day.   If she had on an outfit that was red and black, she would wear a pair of red socks and a pair of black socks.  On one foot, she wore the red sock under the black sock with the red one turned up and the black one folded down.  On the other foot, she would do the opposite. 


I wish I had a photograph to show you.  But in those pre digital days, we didn't take as many photos as we do today.   You'll have to imagine it.  She made this look up herself.   And the funny thing was that after a while all the other little girls started doing it too.  The mothers would tell me they wouldn't wear their socks any other way now.  I was never sure if they were ok with it or if they were frustrated with me for letting Kate do it.

As she grew older she would see colors in objects that I didn't really see.  We had an old, old, think older than that, door from a family home that had been torn down.   As I looked at the door, I saw a dirty yellow door. Kate saw yellow and white and green and even purple in it.  And when she painted anything, those colors would come out and it was beautiful.   She painted some images from the old house.   Here is a photo of the house and one of the paintings.   See the difference?   It isn't that she imagines the colors.  She sees them!

I have often longed for that gift.   But, alas, it is not in my head.  But recently I have been determined to grow in that area.  I cannot create the gift Kate has, but perhaps I can foster the skill.  So, with that in mind, I've been piddling with art in unusual colors.  I have just finished this elephant.   Ellie is tiny - 2.5 x 3.5. Artist Trading Card size.  She was done during a collection of moments when I was caught in a lobby or in the car with nothing to do but wait.   Ellie was created with Derwent Inktense, Prismacolor, & Derwent Sketching pencils on Strathmore mixed media paper.  Working in unusual colors was a challenge for me and definitely stretched my thinking processes.  But I enjoyed it and I am pleased with her.

 

 
Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

Art Journaling with Pencils Workshop

Keeping an art journal is very popular right now. There are journals of all kinds of sizes, bindings, and paper types just about everywhere you go. I always thought I should be keeping one. I saw them everywhere. I loved the look of the mixed media pages with paint and pasted images.  They are all over the internet.  So cool, I thought.  And surely I should be keeping one, I thought to myself.  After all, they are so "artsy"!

 
But as I attempted to journal using the beautiful and ever popular paint and paste method, it just didn't work for me.  Art journaling should be free.  One should just go with the flow with the inspiration of the moment, just as a written journal would be.   I found that I got so caught up in the method of painting and pasting and looking for the right image, that any sense of free creativity elluded me.

 

 

And so, I did not journal.

Until it occurred to me that I could find ways to accomplish the same looks with my artist's pencils.  Well, that sounded fun to me.  But where to start?  I began to play with my pencils in a free and journaling format.  And with time I began to discover all kinds of ways to create some of the same layered and colorful looks of paint and paste journal pages, simply by using my pencils.

But the most fun discovery for me in this art journaling process, was how relaxing it was.  If I wanted an image, I didn't have to search through files or worry about where to find just the right image.  I simply drew it.   I don't mean grand works of art.  I mean simple easy drawings that most anyone could do.

Using graphite, charcoal, or colored pencils to create my images was a slower process.  But it gave me more time to mull over the idea I was trying to communicate with that image.

Having loved this process, I would like to share what I've learned with you.  So I have created a workshop in which I share some of my discoveries from art journaling with artist's pencils.  This workshop is currently available on Creative Pencils.  In this workshop I will help you find your focus and help you see how to bring a variety of elements to your pages.  I will create an entire page on camera so you can see the process unfolding.  You will get to create your own personal pages.

I used a variety of pencils including Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, Derwent Inktense and watercolor pencils, Derwent Tinted Charcoal pencils, and graphite pencils.  You may use what you have on hand.  And if you love the process, you may want to add to you supplies accordingly.

I hope you will join me.  I think you will enjoy your journals all the more once you can creatively incorporate your pencils for a new look.

 
Wind and Honey Creations