Publishings and other musings

 

For those of you who to subscribe to Ann Kullberg's CP Magazine, you can see my step by step tutorial on how to draw 'Hoodie' in coloured pencils on drafting film in the current (November issue). This is an abbreviated version of the full tutorial which you can find at my website at www.karenhullart.com

 

Grandpa Elliott was selected for the Colored Pencil Magazine 2013 Calendar and you will find him along with the other winners in this month's issue of the Coloured Pencil Magazine.

Australian reader's might also spot the Miniature Grandpa Elliott in the current issue of Australian Artist which covers an article about this year's Australian Society of Miniature Art (NSW) National Awards Exhibition.

 

 And here are a couple of commissions completed over the last few weeks. We are gearing up now for that crazy time of year and so it is back to the drawing board to work on more commissions.

New Step by Step Coloured Pencil Tutorial

Do you find working on backgrounds a bit tedious or challenging? This 26 page tutorial has two sections to it. The first will guide you through how to create a background using the free image editing software Paint.NET, which you can then print straight onto your Stonehenge paper (or your own favourite art paper). The second section takes you through a step by step guide on how to draw this gorgeous Meerkat using ink and coloured pencils. For more information about this and other coloured pencil tutorials, please visit either www.karenhullart.com or my Etsy shop.

Mesmerised

This 8x10 inch artwork was drawn with coloured pencils on drafting film and is now the subject of a 21 page comprehensive step by step tutorial available from http://www.miniatureartbykhull.com/tutorials_34.html

The reference photo for this gorgeous kitty was provided with kind permission of PCB75

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ainhoap/436286674/in/set-72157594475793162

A couple of Commissions plus a couple of little dramas!

 Adora

8x10 inches

Coloured pencils and Pan pastels on Pastelmat

Spot

8x10 inches

Coloured pencils on Mat Board

This has been one of those weeks. I have a couple of love/ hate relationships going on at the moment. The first is with one of our dogs, Sophie (9 months old), who decided on Monday night to chew a biro to pieces and then spread the contents all over our bedroom carpet and bedspread. After googling every conceivable remedy for removing ink, we had tried a multitude of solutions and went to bed reassured that much of the ink had been removed. On awakening on Tuesday however, we found that one of the remedies had not only removed much of the ink, but also the dye from the carpet and bedspread (I suspect it might have been the toothpaste). Panic stations. We now have a new bedspread and a new rug to cover the offending patches on the carpet. Just as well Sophie is so endearing and much loved!!!

After resolving that problem, I decided to open some emails, only to find that everything on our computer was frozen - so needless to say my second love/ hate relationship is with our computer. Three days later and several hundred dollars poorer, we are now back up and running again. In between the dramas, I managed to get a bit of work done as well.

Adora will be the subject of a new step by step tutorial and should be available from my website at www.karenhullart.com from next week.

Adonis

Adonis

A3 (12x16 inches)

Coloured pencil and Pan Pastels on black Mat Board

This artwork was done just for fun because I am enjoying experimenting with coloured pencils on black mat board and am loving some of the effects that can be achieved. Only problem is that I find the darker backgrounds much harder to scan, particularly when you have to stitch scans together as I had to in this case. I am going to take a week off from art now as we have family arriving at the end of the week, so cleaning and tidying is on the agenda and hopefully catching up on some internet correspondence. I wonder if many of you find as I do, that once caught up doing art, (apart from all the other things that call on our time), there is very little time left over for browsing all the beautiful artworks that everyone else has been creating. It's nice to take stock and have a breather every now and then and just appreciate the beauty and creativity of other people's work and I also find that it spurs me on and inspires me to improve and be more creative myself. So looking forward to catching up on all of that this week! :)

CP Treasures

No artwork to post today, as I have been working on quite a detailed commission over the last week, which is actually for a wedding present, and so I can't reveal anything at this stage. For those of you who love coloured pencils as I do, please take the time to check out the latest CP Treasures book. I feel extremely honoured to have been included amongst the 70 coloured pencil artists from around the world who have had their work featured in this book. I can't wait to receive my own copy so I can pore over and admire all the coloured pencil artworks and to read about the very talented artists who have created them.

WIP 3 - Face of Symmetry

WIP 3 and I'm not even sure that you can tell who this beauty is yet. Once I draw in her mouth it should be more apparent (hopefully). Sadly, holidays have come to an end today and two of our sons are back to school tomorrow, with uni still not starting up for another month. The holidays have gone all too fast, but I guess we need the hustle and bustle of everyday life to really appreciate the holidays!

WIP 2 - Face of Symmetry

2nd stage of the WIP. Working with the coloured pencils on the Pastelmat, is much slower than working with pastels, but when not pressed for time, I find it really relaxing filling in all the fine grainy texture of the paper and trying to achieve a nice smooth skin tone. The pastelmat takes multiple layers and I find the Derwent artist pencils, in particular, work really well on this surface for getting a creamy looking skin. The Faber Castell Polychromos are then great for the darker details. Working with the pencils on the Pastelmat really allows you to make very subtle changes to the skin tone in a way that I usually only find possible with oils.

Finally finished - Peeling Back the Layers

Peeling Back the Layers

30cm x 30cm

Coloured pencils and pan pastels on a breadboard

Have you ever started on a piece, filled with inspiration, only to find by the end that you have lost all passion and enthusiasm for the artwork and it feels like a chore? This was just that artwork - by the end if felt like one of those school assignments that you have put off and put off and finally you get it completed. Part of the problem with this one, stemmed from the fact that I got halfway through it the first time, and found that the pencil wasn't adhering to the board (probably my fault because I had given it a very light sand before commencing), and so had to sand the whole thing back and start from scratch, this time using a different primer. In the meantime, I was also having problems with my miniature from the previous blog. As I'd also mentioned, I felt I needed to do some Still Lifes that didn't have any sign of life (or mice) in them, but still wanted that trompe L'oeil feel and this was the result, but I miss my little critters :)

Easter Art

Rebecca Louise

4x6 inches

Coloured pencils and pastels on wood

George - Giraffe in a scarf

8x10 inches

Watercolour pencils, Coloured pencils and Pan Pastels on wood

Firstly wishing a really happy and safe Easter to each and every one of you.

These are the two artworks I have worked on so far over the Easter break.

Rebecca Louise is my brand new niece, born last Wednesday the 20th April. Sadly, I won't get to see or hold her until she is probably walking as we live too far away, but thank goodness for photos and the internet!!!

George was done just for fun, although I did regret adding the scarf once it was all finished :)

Miniature Art - The Philosopher

The Philosopher

10cm x 10cm Including frame

Coloured pencils, Pan Pastels and Acrylic (the frame) on wood

I thought I would try a miniature artwork using the coloured pencils on gesso. And this time I applied two coats of gesso. I think next time, I may just try the one coat again. Unfortunately once scanned the pencil on wood looks more grainy and broken up than it appears in real life, and I think that is accentuated because it is a mini, which I scanned in at 600dpi. The actual pencil area is only 7cm x 7cm (2 3/4 inches x 2 3/4 inches). This fabulous chimp obligingly posed for us a few years ago at Taronga Zoo and when I stumbled across the reference photo a few days ago, I thought it would be the ideal image to try a mini pencil on wood.

Hope

Hope

11x14 inches

Coloured pencils on matte board

This is the commission I mentioned in my last post and I was fortunate that this was presented sooner than expected and happily Hope's Mum and Dad gave their blessings for this to be posted. There weren't actually any bubbles in the reference photo, but it seemed like the perfect addition to her little outstretched hand. What a lovely commission to do too, from the beautiful colour of her hair, to the interesting details in her dress, and of course it helps when you are given a good quality reference photo to work with.

Shakira

Shakira

8x10 inches

Coloured pencils on drafting film

I actually finished Shakira a week or two ago, but had to hold off until after she was presented for a birthday present. I have just finished another commission tonight, which can't be revealed until it is presented as well - all these little secrets and surprises!!! This week I will be back to work on some more wooden pieces, as my aim is to get more proactive and enter more exhibitions this year. It can be a bit of a headache meeting deadlines, getting entry forms in and organising deliveries, and I am also terrified of Opening Nights! But it is all good for confidence building and is a real motivator for getting some work done!

Th Dear John Letter

The Dear John Letter

37cm x 37cm

Coloured pencils and PanPastels on wood

Mostly I do like to do happy and quirky images, especially celebrating our animal world, but sometimes we are inspired by other thoughts and emotions. These days this image is probably an obsolete one and is more likely to be replaced with a text on an iphone, but the sentiments are still the same, and all too sad for the one on the receiving end. Hopefully what is conveyed in this image, that as harsh as it might seem, the writer is really struggling with her job at hand. My melancholy in drawing this image has been fuelled by the 24 hour coverage of yesterday's earthquake in Christchurch NZ, and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this devastating event!!!

What about me?

What about Me?

29cm x 29cm

Coloured pencils on wood

Back to doing commissions this week, but just had time to fit another of these artworks on wood - so much fun!!! This one was inspired by our Siamese cat Dipsy who stretches his paw as high as he can to the bench (fortunately he can't reach) whenever I am chopping up chicken or fish. Some might shoo the kitty away, others might share a sardine or two - which are you?

Looking for a Mate - Coloured Pencils on Wood

Looking For a Mate

19.5 x 29.5 cm

Coloured pencils and Pan Pastels on Wood

I'm actually between illustration jobs, but just wanted to squeeze in a quickie (I am referring to artworks by the way) just for fun. I am going to try to create one artwork on wood per week, even if they are simple ones like this. My husband was fairly unimpressed, declaring that it seemed to be missing something... to be fair I usually do add a lot more detail, but for a change I am looking at doing some Trompe L'Oeil scenes that are quite simple in composition.

The Uninvited Guests

The Uninvited Guests

30cm x 30cm
Coloured pencils on wood

What fun I had with this artwork! This time the wood was sealed first, then an undercoat of acrylic applied to the appropriate areas, and then two coats of clear colourfix primer was applied. I am struggling now, to find plain pine breadboards, and so tried this bamboo and pine combination breadboard. The bamboo is much harder than the pine of course, and even though I gave it a good sand with a fine sander, it still has more texture than the pine and probably more than I would like, but it was a fun experiment anyway. This is my last artwork on wood for a little while, as I now have to buckle down and do some illustration work, but my goal is to do more of these pieces, as I have so many ideas floating around that I could sit and draw for months - sadly there just aren't enough hours in the day!!!

Contemplating Mischief

Contemplating Mischief

8x11 inches

Coloured pencils and Pan Pastels on wood

More experimentation with wood, only this time I primed the wood with Clear Colourfix primer and then sanded it with very fine sanding paper. I think this surface worked slightly better with the coloured pencils than just the acrylic or wood on it's own, although next time I would probably do another coat of primer and sand it even smoother. I do prefer the smoothest surface possible. I miss the fact that you can't really scratch the colour out like you can on drafting film, but there are so many other aspects that make the wood very pleasant to work with.

The reference photo for this cutie was provided by Ainhoa pcb on Flickr and was used with her kind permission. Some of you might remember I used this image before to do a graphite drawing called Whistful.

Goddess of the Sea - Trying out a new surface

Goddess of the Sea

8 1/2 x 11 inches

Acrylics and Coloured Pencil on Wood

As many of you may know, I love trying out new surfaces and experimenting. One of the things I hate most in preparing for exhibitions is the framing process. I stumbled upon a small stack of pine bread boards in a clearance sale the other day, and thought I would use them to try out a different surface, with the idea of possibly hanging them in exhibitions with no frame at all, but just as they are. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the wood accepted the coloured pencils (the softer ones such as the Derwent Coloursoft were more receptive than the harder Polychromos that I usually prefer), particularly on the face where I had done a very light undercoat with white acrylic.

I know there will be some exhibitions, where this type of presentation would not be accepted, but still thought it was worth a try. I was reading about an American artist (I can't recall his name) who draws on wood, then applies two coats of fixative, followed by three coats of gloss varnish.

The other thought I had was that clients might like their commissioned portraits done in this way, which means they don't have to worry about getting their portraits framed, and offers quite a unique gift. Watch this space :)

Goddess of Autumn - just for fun

Goddess of Autumn

8x10 inches

Coloured pencil on matte board

I am always extremely grateful for commission work, but it is so liberating and fun sometimes to indulge in a bit of art just for the sake for being creative and playing. I hadn't planned on picking up any pencils or doing any artwork for several weeks, but then the bug bites and I can't relax until I put a little colour on the board and let somes ideas come to fruition. So this artwork has been done for no other reason than to play with colour and because I love to draw beautiful faces.

I do hope everyone has had the most wonderful Christmas and that you all have the opportunity for a little R&R now.