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.

WIP - Face of Symmetry

I rarely post WIP images, but we have been away on holidays and so it seems to have been a while between posts and I'm also still in holiday mode so will take my time with this portrait. Can you guess who this is - she is supposed to have the most symmetrical face in the world and she certainly is stunning. I have been a little naughty and just took an image from Google images, but this is more for the exercise of doing a portrait in pencils on Pastelmat. I am really loving this combination of mediums and will probably start doing my commissions this way, rather than on the drafting film from now on. Happy Australia Day to all my Aussie friends too!! :)

Feeling Lucky

Feeling Lucky

7cm x 10cm

Coloured pencils on Pastelmat

Just a quick little miniature art squeezed in before we head off on holidays for the next couple of weeks. The pastelmat does have a very fine texture, but unfortunately when scanning this size image, the texture becomes enlarged and quite obvious. I might try using watercolour pencils under the regular pencils next time to see if that gives a smoother appearance. Life is never dull!!!

Lord of the Manor

Lord of the Manor

6x8 inches

Coloured pencil on Pastelmat

This was just a little experiment to see how the coloured pencils go on the Pastelmat. I have used pastels a few times on this surface and have to say it is my absolute favourite surface for pastels. But generally, I favour coloured pencils over pastels because of the lack of dust, and so wanted to try them out. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It was possible to get quite good detail, despite the fine texture of the surface, and was also possible to get lots of layers of pencils which is something new to me, after working on the drafting film so much. My brother took the reference photo of this gorgeous kitty on his iphone at a friend's house and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love, begging him to email me a copy. It looks to me like it is probably a Maine Coon - truly beautiful cats!!!

The Lady and The Prince - and a Happy New Year

The lady and The Prince

8x10 inches

Inktense Pencils and Faber Castell Pitt Pens on Acrylic Paper

Firstly, a very Happy New Year to everyone and I wish you all a year filled with good health, peace and happiness!!!

A very big thank you to Juno Kughler http://junokughler.com/, an amazing coloured pencil artist, who kindly shared some of her reference photos for other artists to use, including the one of this gorgeous frog.

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while, would know how much I love to experiment with different mediums. I have had my Faber Castell Pitt Pens for a while now and always suspected that they could be a joy to use, if used on the right surface, but hadn't really spent a lot of time exploring which ones would bring out their best qualities. Unfortunately, they really aren't suitable on drafting film at all, because even once the ink has been left to dry, it still wipes straight off the film. I would like to try the pens on the Dura-lar wet media drafting film to see if this gives the ink more staying power. I also found that regular paper seems to negate the wonderful blending qualities of the pitt pens as the ink dries a little too quickly for my liking.

I spent a lazy day last week pulling out all sorts of different surfaces to see how the pens responded and found that the acrylic paper was an absolute joy to work with. I would like to find a brand of acrylic paper that has slightly less texture (I'd be keen to hear if anyone could reccommend one). The one I'm using is the Canson, which has a texture similar to linen canvas.

I actually started this drawing using the inktense pencils and was only using the Pitt pens for the darker areas, but then found that I could achieve a combination of textures and shades, by either layering the pitt pens over the top of each other, using a wet brush to blend the ink before it dried, or softening edges and blending colours using the Tria blending marker.

I must admit I feel really excited about exploring this combination of mediums further. The colours are vivid and bright, but it is also possible to achieve soft, muted colours. I would love to hear of anyone else's experiences with these pens, and in particular different surfaces that you might have tried :)

Ponderings of Christmas

Indra and Guy

9x12 inches

Pastel on Pastelmat

Anni

8x10 inches

Coloured pencil on drafting film

The house that Sam and Karen built

Christmas is such a strange time really. The last week has been a haze of last minute shopping, cleaning, cooking and young people coming and going in a blur of social engagements and long working hours (our three older boys work part time at Toys R Us - and have had several 2:30am finishes in the last few weeks). There were high expectations amongst them all and some of those expectations were met and some were not. As we get older, the excitement for the materialism of Christmas is replaced with a yearning for everyone to be happy, and sadly enough this doesn't always coincide with Christmas Day. Now, it is Boxing Day, and in typical Australian fashion, all the men in our house set their alarms for 10 to 10 so that they could rise just in time to watch the start of the cricket. The frantic pace has been replaced with a gentle laziness and everyone seems happy and content and expectations have disappeared. For me the day after Christmas sometimes holds more of the peace and joy that we long for on Christmas Day.

My Gift to You

Opposites - High and Low - My Gift to You

26cm x 51cm

Coloured pencil on drafting film

This is a sample illustration for another book for Hachette publications, and seemed appropriate to post at this time, as we are in the midst of a season of giving and sharing. Hope this puts a smile on your face and that all my blogger and internet friends have the most wonderful Christmas, full of peace, love and joy, and a truly fabulous year in 2012!!!! xxx