Drawing, a contented heart.

Colour pencil is a much under rated medium. There are a few points to remember when using it. One is size - the larger you work, the longer it will take. Another is paper surface. The smoother the surface the more layers of pencil it will accept. Bristol Board is extremely smooth, and unforgiving. Unforgiving means that its not easy to remove marks you've drawn, but the slippery surface encourages cautious mark-making in the first place... Another element is the brand of pencils, and they're all different. The only way to know which brands suit you is trial and error. Some brands are waxy, some scratchy (like chalk scraping on board, aaaaaargh), some hard, some soft. Some are delicious. Some are yucky. Some are light fast, many are not. A useful rule of thumb is that the larger the range in a brand, the less the colours will blend together. Personally, I prefer a smaller palette that I can layer to my hearts content. What a lovely thing - a contented heart.

This drawing took 60 hours in total. The line drawing stage alone took 19 hours. I used an F pencil to do the line, which I rubbed out as I went along putting the colour in.  I am showing it to you as you might find it interesting. It is NOT so you can copy it. I drew it freehand - its the only way forward. Trust me, I know these things.

Caran d'Ache Prismalo 1 and Van Gogh pencils. The entire Van Goch range is light fast, but doesn't layer well at all. (grrrrrr....)

Drawing is very good for your health. If you use a daylight bulb all the time (day as well as night) it will stop you straining your eyes (personally, my eyes are supersonic, and I'm sure the drawing has helped). And when you get really engrossed in what you're doing, you can't think of anything else. So when all else fails:

Next up - Big Drawing Day, Portrait Day, Monthly Mondays, and Weekly Classes. 

For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk