Progress

Hi

In my last post I was working on a background.

 Most of the time after multiple layers you come up with something you are happy with.

Sometimes however, they end up in the bin.

That's what happened on that occasion.

Here is a new painting I started yesterday with a simple background.

I am working in acrylics at the moment but will go on to use oil pastel 

and coloured pencil.

Stop by next time to see how she progresses.

XXX

Getting Back to Basics

Hi 

For me January is the most depressing month of the year.

After the sparkling lights of Christmas and dark mornings

and mostly dark days it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things.

Today however, was a cold but lovely sunny day and for the first time this

year I managed to get started on something new.

 I have been in my studio creating some background layers with acrylic paint and my gelatin plate.

It's a WIP so not too impressive at the moment but I thought it would be interesting 

to share the process with you.

I love the leftover paint patterns you get from cleaning your roller off between prints.

These papers come in useful for future collage.

Thanks for stopping by.

XXX

Pencil Blender

Hi

Last time I promised to explain a little about using a solvent pencil blender.

I will be honest, until relatively recently I wasn't aware

that you could blend coloured pencil with a solvent.

There are a number of solvents on the market and I purchased a 

bottle of  'Zest It Pencil Blender' to try it out.

I used it in the background and the hair of my coloured pencil

  piece featured in my last post which you can see here.

 To use this you lay down layers of coloured pencil and apply the blender 

with a brush or a cotton bud.

I have two samples here to show you.

You can see the difference the blender makes when applied. 

 In the first sample I laid down two layers of pencil on the left and four on the right.

In the second sample I added another two layers on the left and another four on the right

before using a second layer of blender.

 It is very effective when covering a large area but I quit like  

 the 'sketchy' effect you get from coloured pencil so it will be interesting to see

how often I use it in my work.

Thanks for stopping by.

XXX

Getting Back into the Swing of Things.

Hi

This is my first coloured pencil drawing of 2017.

I tried out my new Zest it Pencil blender for the first time on the back ground and on her hair.

Blending coloured pencil with a solvent is new to me and for those of you 

who would like to hear more about it I will go into it in a bit more detail in a 

future post.

XXX

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog.

This is the place where I want to share with you my art work in, as the title suggests, pencil, pastel

and paint.

However, I am starting off with sharing a little tip.

Why not recycle your old pocket sized hand sanitizer spray bottle into a spritzer bottle to use in your

art work.

Just wash it out, fill with water and you are good to go.

XXX