So Why Colored Pencils? - August 2005
Colored pencil as a medium for serious artists has been a relatively recent
development although graphic artists have long been aware of its possibilities.
The Colored Pencil Society of America was only established in 1990 and had
its 10th Annual Show this year.
Colored pencil in combination with water soluble pencils or water colors and mixed media is also becoming popular. At the urging of artists major manufacturers have increased the variety and quality of their products. The colored pencils you buy today in art stores are significantly better than what was available for hobbies or your children even five years ago.
Colored pencil work now appears in museums, galleries and collections both
here and abroad. it is a challenging medium, most effective with careful
planning since careless pencil strokes are difficult to erase. Most drawings
are best appreciated in an intimate setting where lines, layers, textures
as well as basic composition can be more fully appreciated. Generally the
best distance to view colored pencil drawings is 3-6 feet. Some artists
choose to work in large formats but such works involve a great deal of rather
tedious filling in.
With colored pencils rich effects are achieved by laying down layers of
different colors sometimes allowing them to shine through or blending them
with special tools. Six to eight layers or more are not uncommon for traditional
colored pencil technique. This technique substitutes for the color mixing
on a palette for oils, acrylics and even water color. Water color when it
is transparent also creates effects by multiple layers.
Some of my drawings use these traditional methods but many because they are done on mylar which is semi transparent and color can be applied on both sides are looser allowing the pencil strokes to show more and the background color to filter through as well.
Lately I have been experimenting with transparent inks in combination with
colored pencils and with inks using the bottle stopper as a brush. Obviously
the possibilities are endless and who knows what I will be doing next year!
How important is it to understand what the artist is attempting to do? - November 2007
I have always believed a work of art needs to stand on its own. Either you’re drawn
to it or you aren’t. No matter how famous the artist or the actual work you, the viewer, are not obligated to enjoy or appreciate it.
For those who enjoy learning what goes on in the artist’s head, here are some notes on how I am working at this point in my evolution.
Because colored pencils lend themselves to detail and are difficult to erase, most colored pencil artists spend a lot of time planning their works and less time implementing their plans. The entire picture is usually pretty well thought out before they transfer it to quality paper and complete it with their colored pencils. My current process is reversed.
I use radiant, transparent drawing inks to create a largely intutive design on mylar. This rarely takes more than fifteen minutes. (For reasons I do not understand I have not been able to plan or direct this first step. Whether in focusing on a subject, theme or even specific colors , the more I plan, the less I like the result.) I may then work directly on the mylar but because the inks are fragile and have a limited life even under glass, I often reproduce the initial design on regular print or sometimes fine art paper....I also may enlarge or section the original at this point on my computer. These are then edited and refined with colored pencils. I may make a sepia reproduction and start all over with a different color scheme... At that point I am sort of composing with color. I pay a lot of attention to the color interactions. I use my colored pencils to highlight and strengthen lines or create textures. Often you have to look pretty carefully to see where I have changed things.
Usually I have to revisit these drawings three or four times over several weeks before
I feel they are finished. Then they are sprayed with a top quality photo preservative which should ensure color fidelity for a reasonable period.( All art fades especially under intense light.) UV glass can help but I find it distorts and reduces the radiance in my work so I don’t use it.
The closest I can come do describing what I do is that I try to keep challenging myself and at the moment that means creating something that has possibilities,usually inks on mylar, and then selecting and exploiting what I see, what speaks to me and using my colored pencils to refine a rather dense image into something that “sings”.