Coloring In

Young radish from our garden

2009-06-03T23:00:00.005-05:00

Colored Pencil on Colourfix Paper
3½ x 2½ inches
Not For Sale

Every day in May - Apple Muffin

2009-05-01T17:39:00.011-05:00

Watercolor pencil and colored pencil in a handbook journal

Because I know how much I need to find some inspiration to draw more often and to concentrate in the areas where I need to improve my work – I'm taking the ''every day in May'' challenge.

Recently, I read a great article posted on Jelaine Faunce's blog about artist challenge groups and thought I'd love to do something like that - then I read yesterday on a lovely blog by Ann Nemcosky that she was taking this challenge, I couldn't help feeling a little nudge to say - 'me too!'

Read all about how to participate or to see other participants at the blog by Elena Nazzaro, French Toast Girl.

- - -

By the time "day 6" arrived for the "Every Day in May" challenge, I knew I was going to be in trouble. My schedule kept filling up and 'every day in May' was full of activities which did not include drawing much - turns out it was too ambitious of a challenge for me this time around, 'may' try again next year

My Flickr photostream has more of my EDinM sketches.

Limenitis Arthemis Astyanax

2009-03-03T08:23:00.003-06:00

Colored Pencil on Colourfix Paper
2½ x 3½ inches
SOLD

Raven with Garnet

2009-02-11T09:41:00.008-06:00

Colored Pencil on Colourfix Paper
2½ x 3½ inches
SOLD

The raven symbolizes mystery to me, a favorite subject of myth and folklore, I've always imagined them as highly intelligent birds, skillful seekers of treasure.

Garnets are more commonly recognized for their dark red or deep purple/red color, however - some garnets are green, some orange, black, brown, purple, yellow and even clear or transparent - for this drawing I chose to include more than just red in the raw crystal dangling from the ravens beak.

I love glass ball fishing-net floats, the way they gleam in the sunlight, how the rope is tied around them - this was my inspiration for the net-like structure around the garnet and the means by which the raven is able to carry it.

50 out of 50

2008-12-02T11:32:00.003-06:00

Colored Pencil on Stonehenge Paper
2½ x 3½ inches
SOLD

French Grey layers with color over the top, this marks my 50th Art Card (ACEO) listed and sold on eBay. I feel quite pleased to have sold everything I've listed so far, including larger sizes as well. I first started selling on my Husband's eBay account and later began my own which I use for art related items only.

Colorless Blender Pencils

2007-07-11T18:05:00.003-05:00

These blending pencils have no pigment (or color), one made by Rembrandt Lyra and the other by Sanford Prismacolor (PC 1077).

The Prismacolor Blender is wax based and blends Prismacolor Colored Pencils very nicely [1st square above]. During testing, I found that the Lyra Splender Blender works equally well with either wax based or oil based colored pencils [1st & 4th square above]. The Prismacolor Blender removed some pigment when used with oil based pencils and lightened the color considerably [3rd square]. Bare in mind that I just tested on one kind of paper, it may perform differently on various surfaces. The Lyra Splender Blender completely blends Prismacolor Colored Pencils (wax based) [2nd square] but when used with Caran d'Ache Pablo Colored Pencils (oil based) it lightens the colors or pigment on the paper as well as blends [4th square].

Prismacolor Blender Pencil:
- Goes down smooth like the colored pencils, but the composition is harder
- Works well with wax based colored pencils, but not as well with oil based colored pencils

Rembrandt Lyra Splender Blender:
- A little chalkier, not gritty but drier
- Works well with wax based and oil based colored pencils

These blenders are more effective when you have multiple layers or a thicker application of pigment on your surface

Both blenders work better with blunt points, sharp points can make unwanted indentations in the paper because you push harder when using the blenders to blend pigments together

Clean the tips if you move from one color to another area with different color, they tend to keep a bit of pigment on their tips during and after blending

After using blenders extensively earlier this year, I was sure there was no oil in the Lyra Splender Blender because it seems so dry, so I wrote to the Lyra pencil company at Lyra.de and asked them about it. Their Chief Chemist, kindly responded that

"...the Splender pencil is on a similar base like the Polycolor Color Pencils, which are oil based. The Splender Pencil additionally contains a so called functional filler providing the required properties."

I did some research on the Internet about functional fillers, it was hard to find a much information, but it makes sense and is quite fascinating and clever.

These blenders are available online individually as well as in art supply stores that sell open stock pencils.

History of the Lyra pencil company.

Rooster on Colourfix

2007-03-17T12:46:00.006-05:00

5½ x 7½ inches on Colourfix Pastel Paper with various brands of colored pencils. Still need to sign it and make a few adjustments. Click here for close-up and here for a close look at the rooster's head/face.

The Colourfix is great, especially the dark green, but I'm still learning to build up the lighter values, it's easy to lose the lightest lights and once that happens it can be difficult for me to erase and get them back again. I love using black and this rooster provided a great opportunity to use lots of it! I've discovered that the Pablo Caran d'Ache "Ivory Black" is fabulous for creating very deep blacks, especially on colourfix. You can tell by the feathers on the bottom of the neck I used Prisma's Black, but on the bottom and tail feathers I used Pablo's Ivory Black.

Color Swatches for Open Stock Pencils

2007-02-21T17:17:00.006-06:00

Yesterday when opening a package of pencils I ordered online, I was surprised to see one of the colors was not at all what I was expecting. The swatch provided by the seller was a light dusty pink, I knew they had to be off on the color because the pencil name is “Dark Carmine.” So I was expecting the pencil color to be darker anyway but, I had no idea how deep the red would be till it arrived. Another surprise is that it is so similar to “Carmine” by the same brand, Pablo Caran d’Ache.

I also noticed when testing it out that the Carmine is softer, more buttery in texture than the Dark Carmine. I too am having trouble getting the swatches to appear accurate on screen, in my view both Carmine and Dark Carmine lean towards purple/blue (red) which does not show here, but these swatches are close.

So, here’s a tip:
Do not rely on the color swatches provided by open stock sellers online.

True Blue

2007-01-28T12:17:00.008-06:00

I've noticed the painted color on casings differ with the same pencil color sometimes, but the pigment is always the same, I've worked with Prismacolors long enough to identify a particular pencil out of a bunch by just looking at the pencil point, so it doesn't matter. I know I purchased these from two separate places, one might have come from a set and the other open stock.