Greetings on yet another Winter Storm Warning Day. Tonight the white stuff is pretty much done falling, but is by no means done being on the ground. At this point the plowed banks are high enough that it's getting difficult to see if traffic is coming at lots of crossroads. "Life is dangerous." But we keep reminding eachother that we are one day closer to that mythical season called Spring. Yup. And daylight's staying till a tad after 6 P.M., so we do see the tinyest bit of hope. On to art!
For all you drawing types, I thought it might be fun to show the pencils used in the creation of "Mr. Bossypants." Through the years the Primsmacolor brand colored pencils have multiplied not unlike rabbits around here. Many were purchased at full price at art supply stores, but we've lucked into MANY at garage-sales, thus balancing out prices per pencil to a more reasonable amount. Last summer I lucked into a full little-used set of 24 still in metal case, for fifty cents. Have yet to put them to use, but it's nice to know that they are waiting in the reserves.
Here, again, is the bunny (phase 1):
He was blocked out, in outline only, with a regular old HB 2 pencil.
Pencils matching local colors on original photo were located in the pencil stash. Also, a mix of warmer and cooler colors to play with while layering. It's all about the layering.... (Note: see that slash of Indigo Blue between ears? At the time I'd THOUGHT it was the right tone to put down there. Wrong..., but even with numerous attempts at covering the area with more appropriate colors that blue would not be denied. LESSON: some colors cannot be second-guessed. Go easy with the cool colors at first, especially with a warm subject.)
On to the pencils used for "Mr. Bossypants." Unless noted, all are Prismacolor brand.
In no particular order:
*Indigo Blue
*Black Grape
*Plum (Pedigree/Empire brand)
*Dark Umber
*Dark Brown
*Sepia
*Sienna Brown
Yellow Ochre
*Goldenrod
*Bronze
*Artichoke
*Gingerroot
*Cream
*Blush Pink
*French Grey 90%
*French Grey 70%
*Warm Grey 50%
*Warm Grey 20%
*French Grey 10%
*White
Also, tortillions, or blending stumps, sizes #3 and #4:
I don'd often use blending stumps when drawing, preferring more often to use the pencils themselves. However, with this subject these paper goodies were quite useful.
My thought on art supplies in general is: Use whatever you need to use to get to the result for which you are questing.
An artist does not need to have everything ever created in the filed in which you work, but it doesn't hurt to have a number of goodies on hand. I VERY seldom use those pokey things, but I was glad that they were waiting in the studio.
So, after layers and layers of the above pencils blended with the above stumps, and a few trips to the mirror, and conferring with husband and daughter, and looking at photo to make more and more similar shadings, the bunny known as "Mr. Bossypants" came to be. Most pencils seem hardly to have gotten any shorter, though they were sharpened early and often. Blending stumps were sanded down from time to time. And, yes, a hunk of trusty rubber eraser was put to use a time or two.
And here, once again, is the final bun-neh in all his flat furry glory:
Yup, that Indigo Blue is still haunting me... Oh well, lesson learned? Hoping so!
And, Yes, it's time to get back to the bears. And hoping for Spring!
Fare-thee-well,
Sue
