Tag: colored pencil

January 24, 2015

Back to the Drawing Board

After I posted my last wip which I was working on for the #twitterartexhibit, I sat down to paint the watercolor wash and had a horrible disappointment. Some kind of gel came out of the tape I used (frog tape) which gummed up my washes and ended up ruining the entire thing. I had to get rid of it entirely, which has happened to me before, but I was under a deadline and I felt under terrible pressure to redo it. Needless to say, I am going back to my trusty blue tape from now on!

I decided to do something completely different altogether in colored pencil. I had stopped working in colored pencil for some time because I was getting a tendinitis in my elbow area, but I worked on this slowly and with a gentle grip and didn’t run into that problem this time. I went back to a common theme: sunset (or in this case, dusk) on a lake.

Colored pencil never seems to scan or photograph well for me and I tried my best to adjust the colors in the image to match the original. The sky has a little more pink in it, but otherwise it is fairly close. I tried to keep a sketchy feel and I am happy with my efforts.

And now my little drawing is in the mail and on its way to Moss.

December 20, 2014

Merry Christmas

Carolyn A Pappas, Festive Old Door. Ink and colored pencil, apx. 7 x 5 inches.

I would like to wish everyone a lovely and stress-free Christmas. I am having a wonderful time with my family this year, and my daughter, who is 3, is so much fun at her age. I did not buy her too many toys, but instead only a few nice ones.

This drawing is what I used for my Christmas card this year, based on this Creative Commons licensed photograph. Because I used this photo for a reference, I will release my drawing under the same license for other people to use as they would like. Feel free to download the high resolution version on flickr.

I used a dip pen and colored pencil and it has a whimsical feel that I enjoy. When I was working on this drawing, I was reminded of an assignment I had in a pen and ink class I took once, to draw a doorway. Breaking out the dip pens was also a rewarding experience, and I was reminded of all the advantages of the dip pen, mainly the variation that is possible in line width. Drawing with a dip pen is also a slower process for me, and I find it more relaxing.

October 30, 2014

More sketches of blossoms.

I wish I had done more ink drawing in October. I have, however, started going to the gym again after over a five year break, so I am proud of myself in that regard. Already I have noticed a huge improvement in my sleep and clarity of thought.

Below are some more sketches I made in my new gray toned sketchbook. I really like this book because of the soft feel of the cover (almost a silky feeling), the general substantial feel of the book in my hands, and the color of the paper. There is some drag on my fountain pen which I don’t like, but I enjoy the color of the gray ink on the gray paper, so there are tradeoffs. I tried out colored pencils but I would like to do some experiments using black and white colored pencils for drawing.