The Kiss

The Kiss. Coloured pencils on Watercolour paper.

I was inspired by a photo showing two mushrooms. Looking at it I saw a mushroom with a face and hands before my eye. After I had drawn the mushroom figure I thought that he needed to be kissed – and added the second creature.

It has been a long time since I used water colour paper, but when I felt my colored pencils going over it I liked it very much. However I definitely don’t like the white spots which you get with it. I had used baby oil with a paper stump before, but decided to go for q-tips this time. I am quite pleased with the result.

Nag – another horse sketch

Nag. Sketch drawn with ink pen and pencil

Up to now I manage to follow my plan to do a horse sketch every other day. I know that they are far from being flawless, but I give myself permission not to be perfect. There are a few which are not presentable on the web, but I do not throw them into the bin. I keep them in order to document my way.

Rhododendron – finished

Rhododendron. Coloured pencils on drawing cardboard. June 2013

This is a contribution to the June challenge of the Botanic/Floral Forum over at Wet Canvas. The reference photo was provided in the challenge thread.

I find rhododendrons very difficult to paint because of their frilly petals. I took the artistic license to simplify the reference. The last step of the process was to dip one of my very small paper stumps into a bit of baby oil and use it as a solvent.

The Lighthouse

The lighthouse. Coloured pencils on drawing cardboard. Work in Progress

There is a lot to be done yet, more layers with the pencils, and especially the shadows in the foreground.

It is my first real landscape (meaning: not a fantasy landscape). With this I am definitely leaving my comfort zone!

Horse profile

Horse profile. Pencils and ball pen. June 2013

Some days ago I joined kobobooks and bought myself “Draw 50 horses” by Lee J. Ames. It is like a workbook with several profiles, several horse brands, rearing horses, bucking horses and what not.

This is the first drawing, and there will be many more coming. Of course I won’t give up showing you my coloured pencil drawings (I managed to finish the rhododendron and I am working on my first landscape just now).

Colourful bubbles – finished

Colourful bubbles – finished. Coloured pencils on Acrylic paper

I managed to finish this abstract on Friday. I think it is not too bad, but I also think that I won’t use acrylic paper again. The texture is similar to watercolour paper, but it is less heavy.

However I decided to allow myself the luxury of a better paper than I have been using up to now. I’ve got the feeling that my art pieces deserve it… There is a big art shop just around the corner where I work (what a big temptation!), and they have all kinds of lovely paper. We’ll see…

Another abstract

Red and Green. Work in progress. June 2013

This is an experiment. It is an experiment because I for the first time use acrylic paper as a surface for coloured pencils. Some months ago I had bought a pad with acrylic paper and haven’t touched it till yesterday when I decided to use it with my coloured pencils.

But the piece is also an experiment because I used coloured pencils together with my markers on acrylic paper, and I decided to work with a limited palette, only using shades of reds and shades of greens.

I don’t know yet whether the experiment will work and whether the final piece will be a failure or not. However, I am enjoying the process.

Rhododendron – Work in Progress

Rhododendron – Work in Progress

The June challenge over at the Botanical and Floral forum at WetCanvas is “Rhododendron”. I don’t know whether I will be able to present the finished piece at the 25th of June, but submissions are open till the end of the month.

Most of the pencils I used are Polychromos made by Faber-Castell, but in the meantime I also got some Koh-i-Noors and some Pablos from Caran d’Ache.

Mystery Fruits – finished

Mystery Fruits. Coloured pencils on drawing cardboard. June 2013

A tree with bare branches, but some colourful yellow-orange-red fruits. Very mysterious. These could be the fruits of life, of hope, of vitality. The tree’s got no green leaves because it is offering these delicious fruits, and all its energy goes into them.

I love trees, especially the old and big ones. I think each tree has got a kind of personality…

Mystery Fruits – Work in Progress

Mystery fruits. Coloured pencils on drawing cardboard.

I got that idea of a tree character with mysterious colourful fruits on its bare branches. The tree character has got only one layer of light ochre (I’m afraid that my scanner doesn’t show that very well). I got somehow carried away by the right part of the picture, but the next steps definitely will be to give some colour to the poor tree thingee!