Finishing the Dandelion

Finally beginning to feel like my self again...thank goodness. I am not a patient patient! Thanks to all of you who have sent me notes and get well wishes. Very much appreciated.

While finishining the recent dandelion drawing, I thought I might show you how I have been finishing my drawings on pastel board. (Many people are experimenting with this support right now and there are no right ways to do it; this is just what I'm trying right now.)

The drawing below is the final drawing stage before burnishing (blending). As you can see, even though I have applied many, many layers of Prismacolor colored pencil to the board, the grain shows through. While you have the option to call your drawing "done" here and it well could be, I have decided to push it and play a little more. What the heck, right?

Drawing before burnishing.

To burnish colored pencil on pastel board, you have several options, as you do on paper, but I choose to drybrush using cheap hog bristle brushes which I have trimmed down to about 1/4 inch. I also clean and dry the brushes frequently with solvent when the color builds up in the brushes. It's very helpful to me to use a drafting brush and clean off the particles kicked up by the burnishing as I go.

And here is the finished piece. Because I worked until the sun went down and wasn't able to get the photo quality I wanted, I still hope you can see the change in color saturation and intensity after burnishing.

Don't be afraid to try new, experimental techniques with your colored pencil drawings. If you are harboring that fear of the unknown, get over it! Sometimes when I want to work "outside the box", I'll do what I call a "small draw"; you won't have as much time, effort, or money invested but you can still play. The Ampersand pastel board can be purchased as small as 5 x 7" and relatively inexpensively. So, go on and play a little!

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. - (T. S. Eliot)

Crystal Candy Dish - Complete

Here are the final stages to completion for Crystal Candy Dish which I am drawing with Prismacolor Pencils on Ampersand Pastel Board (5 x 7") and using Turpenoid Natural solvent to "paint" the piece.

So, in the following phase (continued from last week), I continue to develop the piece, glazing more layers over the background and at the same time, work to try to make the highlights in the glass "pop" forward.
In the following image, you can see where I have most of the detail of the glass worked out. I am also adding a lot more color into the foreground. All of this was "painted" over with solvent to dissolve the wax in the pencils and blend them together.
Here is the drawing as complete. As you can see, I warmed up the foreground to bring it forward and added a light blue to the background to push it back a bit. I also added some warmer color to the glass.

This painting is available for $50, plus shipping. Send me an e-mail if you are interested.

Crystal Candy Dish - WIP

For about six months now, I have been reading several blogs of other daily artists and have found some very good colored pencil artists. It's been a great way to learn about technique and what's current in your medium. Since one of the blog I follow closely is Nicole Caulfield's, I was very intersted in her use of solvent with colored pencil on pastel board. So, I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's my attempt at a small colored pencil drawing on a 5 x 7" Ampersand Pastel Board. I decided to burnish the drawing using Turpenoid Natural, which when used this way, is almost like painting. Quite a lot of fun. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Thanks for the idea, Nicole!