Eye on the Sparrow

Started a new drawing today.  I took the photo out in
Texas..it's some old farm equipment.  I thought it needed a
bird..so I added the sparrow for one of my other photos.  There is
a lot left to do...lots of different textures: rusty metal, weathered
wood, metal bolts and springs, background foliage.
It should be fun!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

"Flower Child"

"Flower Child"  Polychromos and Prismacolor colored pencils on
Fabriano watercolor paper from my photo.

When I was in high school, I really thought I could draw.  Our art
classes were made up of 30 students or so, and I was one of the more
talented ones in the bunch.  A lot of students took Art because they
thought it would be an easy A.  When I went to college, however, I
had to take Life Drawing 101 with Mr. Buscaglia, who was known to
be a tough teacher.  He expected perfection and excellence, but in a quiet
humble way.  He never raised his voice, but would simply walk around the
room, and point to an area on your drawing, and nod.  That meant that area
needed more work.  Many times I thought I was finished, and he would
indicate I was just getting started.  He pushed all of us, and helped make
me the artist I am today.

According to him though, "a drawing was never finished, only postponed".
He always said you could come back to it, even years later and re-work
something.  I still hear his voice in my head as I draw...the basics
about line, lost edges, shading, etc, still rattle around as I draw.  So, I have
worked on this enough to make him proud.  I have spent hours
shading, re-doing, adding values, erasing, etc...and now, I
think I am finished!  At least until tomorrow....


For info on children's portraits in colored pencil or graphite:
sheltongail@hotmail.com

A Shout Out

Started on a new project, with a new toy!  I finally ordered the
Icarus Drawing board by Ester Roi.  It is a glass drawing board,
that has an adjustable heated side.  Using the wax based pencils on the
heated surface makes them soft and easy to blend.

This is a small drawing, 8 x 9, but it went really fast.  It is
so easy to draw and get color on the paper.  It also helps my
arthritic fingers as well! I do not have to use very much pressure
to draw, and that is great!

Final stages here....I added the shadows, details, and then the
background.  I cropped it off to tighten in on the blue glove (which I had
to make up), and to lesson the background.  There is still the white area
across the top, and I have to decide whether to leave it white or not.

Ester's invention is quite revolutionary.  She markets them to
colored pencil and oil pastel artists all over the world.  You
can visit her website to view her amazing artwork, and
see her product. 

www.esterroi.com

"Mardi Gras Madness"
colored pencil  8 x 9   $100.00
sheltongail@hotmail.com

A Sign of the Time (to get married!)

I have a niece in Texas that recently asked me to do some artwork for
her upcoming wedding, Aug 10th.  She is using the flowers above: blue hydrangeas,
cream roses, white stephanotis, etc

She wants a pair of signs to use at the wedding...this smaller one with "Forever starts
Today".  She said she really liked my colored pencil work, and wanted this one
done in that media. She is also using silver, so I used that to do the
lettering.
I still have to finish the other sign, and will post it when finished.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

 



Not so Angry Bird

Just about finished with the bird...now for the background (which I usually
do not care for!)  When talking to many other colored pencil artists,
I found out that many of them do the backgrounds first?!  I never do that.
How do they know where their subject is going to be exactly?
You might change your mind about the size or placement...oh well,
there is more than one way to do things.  I just like to have my
subject done when I add the background.  Interesting....

sheltongail@hotmail.com
 

The Eagle is Landing

Adding a little at a time on this drawing...
mostly on his costume.

Detail of the eagle on the costume...fun to draw

I am still working on this Peruvian dancer.  I will have
a show at Christmas in the gallery of works from my trip
to Peru.  I already have a couple of watercolors, and I
will add this drawing to the mix (if I finish it in time!)

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Colored Pencil Explorations

I am back from the CPSA convention, and I wanted to try out some of
the new things I learned while there.  I took the workshop that covered using
Gamsol with the pencils, that helps melt the wax and allows them to
cover a rough surface.  I thought I would try it on this piece of tile.
I sketched off the rooster, and started with a light coating of the pencil.

Close up of the tile....it is very rough!  The red section has already had th e
solvent applied, and you can see how it spreads.

This is the finished drawing that I started in the workshop.  I added
the background and tweaked the body of the truck.  I also finished the
back end of the truck.  I can see where this  technique would be
good for certain subject matters: rust, rough textured objects, and perhaps
some more "painterly" subjects such as flowers, etc.  I will have to play
around with it and see just what I can make it do.

Here is the finished tile with the rooster.  I am going to seal it with the
glossy sealer, and that will change how it looks.  It can be
displayed on an easel as a little art accent piece.  cool

You might be wondering something about all of this.  Why would you want
to make colored pencil look like watercolor?  Why not just use watercolor, and then
layer pencil over it.  Well, it all has to do with the exhibition.  The CPSA limits
what can be exhibited in the show: it has to be 100 % colored pencil.  And there
are many artists that want to stretch the medium and what they can do, but
still be eligible to enter their work in the international exhibition.  So many of
the artists are experimenting with ways to get the effects they may want,
but only use colored pencils.
CPSA has responded to this however, and has added a second
show that allows for mixed media pieces, as long as the majority of the
work is in colored pencil.  This is an online exhibit only, and is referred to
as the CPX show.   You can view lots of colored pencil work on the
CPSA website, as well as check their blog, etc.  If you are an artist
working in colored pencil, you should consider joining this group.  They are
very professional, and well organized.  There are district chapters in many states
(not Louisiana!?), and you can be part of a larger group of similar-minded
people, and be inspired.

www.cpsa.org
On Facebook: Lovers of Colored Pencil
sheltongail@hotmail.com 

On with the Show

The location of the CPSA show

Attendees at the reception

"Rolling in the Deep"  my entry

This was one of my favorite pieces in the show...just beautiful.  Hard to believe
it is a drawing...it demonstrates what a talented artist can do with it!  This did win
an award, but not Best in Show (I thought it should have!)

Suzanne's entry:  "Great Knockers"  ha ha!
This is done by a wonderful lady that lives in Texas.

This piece is by a young art teacher from Minnesota.  It is a tribute piece to his
grandfather who passed away recently.  He drew the old photos of him as a way
of working through his grief.  awesome

And this is the Best in Show piece.  It is nice, but I did not believe it was
the best piece in the show.



This piece won the second top prize.  This artist, Cecile Baird, does lots of vegetables and fruit
with lots of light...way cool.

I really liked this piece, just cuz I like birds so much.  It was beautifully rendered, delicate and
precise.

I have been coming to this show for several years now.  I am always impressed with many of the entries, and always a little disappointed in some of them.  This year, the juror, spoke to us at the awards banquet about his selections and some of the process.  For him, it was
all about selecting and presenting a "show"...a cohesive unit of work that was
exemplary, but work that filled certain catagories or groupings that would
be good hanging together.   I do not know if other jurors use this same procedure.
I would hope that just the best would be selected...not that some would be
overlooked simply because there were already enough of that type or
catagory.  Anyway, it leaves many things to be discussed, and we artists will
continue to ponder over show selections as long as we continue to enter!
I am just happy that my piece was selected at all!

sheltongail@hotmail.com