FC Polychromos sale!

It seems that a number of online art shops are selling sets of 120 Faber Castell 'Polychromos' pencils at half price, i.e 120 for just under £100.   A bargain by any reckoning!

Two links have been received from UKCPS members:  (but there may be others out there!)

Studio Art Shop, Lancaster
http://www.studioartshop.com/acatalog/info%5f3222%2ehtml

Pullingers Art Shop, Farnham

http://www.pullingers.com/index.php?page_id=500188

UKCPS Open International Exhibition 2011

2011 marks the tenth anniversary of the UKCPS and we want to make the 2011 exhibition a bigger and better celebration of both coloured pencils and our Society than ever before. Generous sponsorship by Faber Castell’s UK distributors, West Design, means that we have the opportunity to have a much larger event in a prime location, opposite Westminster Abbey in London. The venue is the Methodist Central Hall which some of you may know from the Botanical Society’s exhibitions. As well as being conveniently placed and easy to reach at the heart of London, the venue has sufficient space for the Society to do much more alongside the Annual Exhibition to celebrate coloured pencils and our Society’s tenth birthday. The event is a three-cornered one;

• Faber Castell, themselves celebrating their 250th anniversary, will be displaying their full size pencil sculptures and a range of products for sale
• Speight of the Art Foundation will be running workshops for children
• UKCPS Annual exhibition.

There is a full programme of workshops, details of which can be seen on the website, and we also want as many demonstrators as possible and people who could help out, supervise the “have-a-go” facilities and act as stewards. Helpers may sell their goods, with commission to the Society.

Members, please apply to Pat Heffer (exhibitions@ukcps.co.uk) if you are able to offer help in any way - the more helpers we have the less the load for individuals.

Everyone start thinking now and preparing your innovative coloured pencil masterpieces and note there will also be a separate mixed media class (predominantly coloured pencil work). Full details and entry forms are now available on the website.

UKCPS Annual exhibition 2009 - Award Winners

The artists and works winning Awards were formally announced at the Private View for UKCPS's 8th Annual Open International Exhibition 2009 in Birmingham yesterday. You can find images and details of the work below.

Please remember that the copyright to each image belongs to the artist and they should not be downloaded without written permission.

Special mention must be made of Kate Clarke and Janie Pirie who respectively won the Best in Show and Reserve Best in Show. They each also won a second Award.

Links are to members galleries on the UKCPS website or their own websites.

Derwent Award for Best in Show (£400)
UKCPS Annual Open International Exhibition 2009
Old -Timers, One, Two, Free! by Kate Clarke
3x(39x26) cm, coloured pencils (£845)

UKCPS Award for Reserve Best in Show (£300.00)
Beetroot 'Bolthardy' by Janie Pirie
64 x 48cm, coloured pencils (£930)

The Presidents Award (£100)

Scarlet Macaws by Jonathan Newey UKCPS
42 x 85cm, coloured pencils (£1,300)

The Peter Weatherill Award for Best Landscape (£100)
Wistman's Wood Revisited (£2,000) by John Hurford
51 x 63cm, coloured pencils

The Staedtler Award
Challenging Stereotypes - the model family by Kate Clarke
60x 28cm, coloured pencils, (NFS)

The Faber-Castell Award (Wooden box of 120 Polychromos)
Dew on blue Poppies by Janie Pirie
55 x 39cm, coloured pencils (£860)

The Lyra Award (wooden box of rembrandt Professional pencils)
Driver of the Great Marquess by Neil Houghton
30.5 x 46cm, coloured pencils (£1,196)

The Jakar/Caran d'Ache Award (tin of 38 Luminance pencils)
Cherries by Peter Woof UKCPS
15 x 38cm, coloured pencils (£900)

The Great Art Award (cheque or art supplies)
The Full Monty by Suzy Herbert UKCPS
20 x 24cm, coloured pencils (£235)

Peoples Vote: This will be awarded after the exhibition closes on 3rd October. This award is based on the number of votes each work receives from people visiting the exhibition.

Sponsors and judges

UKCPS very much appreciates the support it has received from:

• Derwent, the Comberland Pencil Company who have sponsored both this year's Annual Exhibition and the Best in Show Award. Derwent is the brand name of the Cumberland Pencil Company. They have been making pencils since 1832 and manufacture Derwent Artists, Coloursoft and other coloured pencils.
• this year's jurors who selected the works to be exhibited in the show - Vera Curnow CPSA (Founder of the Colored Pencil Society of America, author, editor and gallery owner), Paul Hipkiss RBSA Curator of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and Emma Cross, Marketing and Sales Co-ordinator, the Cumberland Pencil Company (Derwent) the sponsors for this year's exhibition

All the Award winners were selected by Paul Hipkiss the Curator of the RBSA, apart from the President's Award and the Peter Weatherill Landscape award which were both judged by the UKCPS President Ann Massey.

Exhibition details

You can visit the exhibition at Gallery Two at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, 4 Brook Street, Birmingham B3 1SA. The exhibition is open from today, Monday 21st September and closes on Saturday 3rd October. The gallery is open 10.30am to 5.30pm (Monday to Friday) and 10.30am to 5.00pm on Saturdays and 1.00pm to 5.00pm on Sundays. Admission is free.

For further details see this post UKCPS - 8th Annual Open International Exhibition 2009. Details of the location, parking and how to get there are available in this post.

Works for sale

All works are for sale unless otherwise indicated. Shipping and associated insurance costs are not included in the purchase price and are the responsibility of the purchaser.

All sales of work in the exhibition are managed by the RBSA Gallery. All enquiries about purchasing without visiting the Gallery must be directed to the RBSA Gallery. If you have any other enquiries please contact Pat Heffer, the Exhibition Director (right click to open the email address in your email application).

Demonstrations

UKCPS members demonstrating coloured pencils at the exhibition include:

• 22nd September - Peter Weatherill UKCPS
  
• 25th and 26th September - Rachel Stirling
• 2nd October - Rachel Stirling and Pauline Longley
  

...and there's more to follow

This week I'm highlighting different groups of people in the entries over the next few days:

• Tuesday: Highly Commended entries to the exhibition
  
• Wednesday: UKCPS Members awarded signature status as a result of their acceptance into this year's exhibition
• Thursday: Thanks to all the people who helped to create this exhibition.

You can also see the List of Works and Artists selected for the exhibition in Artists selected for the 8th Annual UKCPS International Open Exhibition

On Saturday 26th September, the UKCPS website will have a new page displaying all the works in the exhibition. I'll provide a link in this post once the new page has been published.

An interview with Gayle Mason SOFA

This is the last in the series of interviews with the three UKCPS members who have had their work accepted for the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 exhibition to be held at the Mall Galleries, London from 1st-6th June 2009.

Today it's the turn of Gayle Mason.

Hot Spot
a finalist in Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009
8" x 20", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Gayle Mason

What's your approach to wildlife art? Why are you interested in it?

Animals are my passion, - studying them, living with them, painting and drawing them. I'm fascinated by the detail in nature and strive to capture it in pencil or paint.

Recent family holidays have been chosen because they are places rich in wildlife. Last summer I was lucky enough to photograph a wild Grizzly bear feeding on a Bison carcase in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA.

How do you generate your reference photos?

By spending hours in the field or at Wildlife Parks waiting with my camera to snap that 'perfect' shot!

I've recently combined two hobbies, bird watching and painting to add birds to the dogs, cats and wildlife in my portfolio. I'm lucky enough to have a wide range of bird species which visit my garden. My drawing table is next to the window which looks out on to the garden and I spend hours with my camera ready next to me as I draw. You can see some of the results on my blog Fur in the Paint.

What's the story behind your piece and why did you choose to enter this one?

We spent New Year in the Highlands of Scotland. One day we visited Loch Fleet and I was lucky enough to capture this little Stoat with my camera. He was dashing about amongst some huge boulders right on the shore of the Loch and every so often he would pause and look at me.

When I saw the image I was immediately struck by the fact that his life will be a tiny spark compared to the eons the boulders have, and will, endure. I tried to convey that message in the drawing. The title 'Hot Spot' has a double meaning, the spark of life and the fact that on a bitterly cold day the Stoat was indeed the 'hot spot'

What pencils and support did you use for your artwork and why did you choose them?

I nearly always use Arches Hot Press Watercolour paper when I'm using mixed media. Although I often try different surfaces Arches is the one I always return to. For this particular piece I used several French Grey coloured pencils, a mixture of Polychromos and Prismacolor. I prefer Polychromos because they are slightly harder and retain a point longer. The stoat himself was painted in acrylic and there are also are several acrylic glazes over the rocks, which were added to give depth to the painting

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background as an artist

I've always been interested in animals and have always spent as much time as possible in the countryside right from childhood. My interest in animals and the countryside have also influenced my education - I've got an honours degree in Zoology - and where we live in Yorkshire, on the very edge of the moors. I also breed and show my Rough Collies and have trotted round a ring at Crufts!

So far as art is concerned, it's grown out of my longstanding interests. I've now been drawing and painting seriously for around 6 years and exhibit on a regular basis at various national wildlife exhibitions and the Society of Feline Artists. I know that my subject matter with always consist of living things. I'm also fairly sure my subject matter will have fur, feathers or leaves as I have no interest in human portraits and instead prefer the portrayal of natural history.

My proudest artistic moment to date was when I found out that I had passed the jury process and had been elected to full membership of the Society of Feline Artists. Of course being short listed for Wildlife Artist of the Year matches that!

You can see more of my drawings and paintings of animals on my animal and nature art website or my pet portraits website. You can also read about my artwork, how I work, what I use - and my Rough Collies - in my blog Fur in the Paint.

Related posts:

• Three UKCPS members to exhibit in "Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009" (5 April 2009)
  
• Some Winners - and a Competition (26 June 2008)
• An interview with Jonathan Newey (21 April 2009)
• An interview with Margaret Edwards (10th May 2009)
  

8th UKCPS Open International Exhibition - Call for Entries

The exhibition page on the UKCPS website

Anyone, anywhere in the world, who likes to produce art using coloured pencils is invited to enter the 8th Open International Exhibition 2009 of the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) sponsored by Derwent.

This annual exhibition will be held in 2009 in Gallery 2 at the home of the The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in Birmingham from Monday 21st September to Saturday 3rd October.

ENTRY: What you need to know

Here are some of the important things you need to know:

• Who can enter? This is an open competition - which means you don't need to be a paid-up member of UKCPS to enter....
  
• ....however it you would like to try and earn signature status from UKCPS you'll need to become a member before you enter! Check out the details of how to do this on the membership page on the UKCPS website. If you are successful in getting into this show three times within a five year span you can become a signature member and are entitled to put the letters UKCPS after your name.
• if your work is accepted into the exhibition, you become eligible to win one or more of the valuable Awards: Derwent Award for Best in Show (£400), UKCPS Award for Reserve Best in Show (£300), the President's Award (£100), the Peter Weatherill Landscape Award (£100), the People's Choice Award (£50), among other awards.
• the entry form for this exhibition has been despatched to all members in the March edition of the Talking Point newsletter. You can also now download the combined Call For Entries and Entry Form (pdf file) from the NEW exhibition page on the UKCPS website.
  
• IMPORTANT: The criteria for eligible work has changed in 2009. As usual we suggest you should read ALL of the details given in the Call for Entries/Entry Form very carefully. However, this year, you are recommended to pay particular attention to the definition of eligible work which has changed from that used in previous years. Using your mouse, you can right click on the image below to see the relevant part of the form - which states very clearly what sort of work is eligible to enter and what would make a work ineligible for the competition. Work which is submitted but ineligible will be refused entry.

Eligible Works: An extract from the Call For Entries

• to enter you need to submit a completed entry form plus image(s) (as a photo, print or high resolution scan on CD) by the deadline of 24th June to Pat Heffer, the UKCPS Exhibition Secretary
  
• Entry fees: These have also changed. As previously explained in Talking Point, every UKCPS member now gets one entry free and can submit up to 3 additional entries @ £5 per entry. The entry fee for all non-members is £17.50 each for up to 2 entries and as membership is £28 per annum for a UK member (and £33 for a non-UK member) you can see there's a slight financial incentive to joining UKCPS!
• Jury: A jury considers all images, plus the title and details of size. Artists' names, descriptions and CVs are not provided to jurors. The jurors this year are Vera Curnow CPSA (Founder of the Colored Pencil Society of America, author, editor and gallery owner), Paul Hipkiss RBSA of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and a representative of Derwent.
  
• Notification: Those accepted into the exhibition will be notified by 21st August 2009.

If you have any queries you should contact Pat Heffer, the Exhibitions Secretary. Pat's contact details are available on the website (Click the 'email' next to the Exhibition Secretary title to get the email address).

Alternatively leave a query by using a comment on this post (see below) and we'll make sure all queries submitted this way get an answer.

If you'd like to see the sort of work which got into last year's exhibition and the work which won prizes take a look at the links to past blog posts about the 2008 exhibition at the end of this post.

UKCPS would like acknowledge and thank Derwent the principal sponsor of UKCPS exhibitions in 2009, together with our other sponsors of the 8th Open International Exhibition 2009 - Faber Castell, Caran d'Ache and Great Art.

DATES: Finally a reminder of the key dates

• Closing date for entry: Wednesday June 24th 2009
  
• Handing in day: Sunday 20th September 2009
• Exhibition dates: Monday 21st September to Saturday 3rd October 2009

Links:

• 8th UKCPS Annual International Open Exhibition 2009 - key dates
• 7th Annual Open International Exhibition 2008 and AGM
• UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008 - Award Winners
• UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008 - Highly Commended
• UKCPS - new signature members
• Works selected for UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008

A portrait of an eminent man - in coloured pencils

Last week Ann Holden, the Editor of the UKCPS Newsletter "Talking Point", was introduced to HRH the Duchess of Cornwall at the unveiling of Ann's portrait in coloured pencils of Emeritus Professor Leslie Vaughan DSc DVR FRCVS, a very eminent and long-serving member of the veterinary profession.

The portrait was commissioned by the Royal Veterinary College to mark the opening of the new wing of the Queen Mother Hospital for Small Animals at Potters Bar by the Duchess of Cornwall and Professor Vaughan's role in originally instigating the project. The hospital is one of the largest veterinary teaching hospitals in the UK.

As an ex-vet herself, Ann was thrilled to receive the commission especially as the commissioning committee had originally intended that the portrait should be in oil. Her veterinary background also enabled her to add some relevant background, as she knew that her subject had been an orthopaedic surgeon. Sadly, Professor Vaughan died the week before the new wing was opened.

Ann completed the portrait using coloured pencils (mainly Faber Castell Polychromos with some Derwent Coloursoft) on Fabriano Artistico HP. The framed size is about 28 in x 33 in.

Note: Members can contact Ann at any time with items for the newsletter. (Click the title in the link for the email address)

UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008 - A note of thanks

More pictures from the UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008 at Bristol

copyright Felicity Grace and used with kind permission

As each Annual Exhibition comes to an end it's time to note the thanks that are due to all those people who helped to make it happen.

Thanks to....

First and foremost, thanks are due of course to everyone who entered a picture for the competition - both UKCPS members and non-members. It goes without saying that there is no exhibition without all of you!

After the members the next most important person to thank in terms of making the Exhibition happen is Pat Heffer UKCPS, the Exhibition Director, who kindly provided me with the notes for the content of this blog post - but not the next few sentences! Putting on an exhibition each year is a massive exercise for any art society. It starts with first meetings with a gallery, continues through the maintenance of lots of administrative records and provision of support to members and non-members who are trying to get their entries right and in on time. Then images and support need to be provided to the three jurors. Plus a team of people need to be recruited and organised who also make very important contributions to making it all happen - as indicated below. Pat is very committed to the exhibition doing well and spends a lot of time each year making sure it is a success.

Thanks to the three jurors who reviewed and rated all the entries to the competition. Janie Gildow CPSA, RWA New Gallery curator Neil Murison Hon RWA, and Hannelore Warning, Group Product Manager, Art and Graphics, Faber Castell Ltd. Prizewinners were selected after the pictures had been hung in the Gallery by Neil Murison Hon RWA, assisted by appropriate judges for the awards given by individuals.

Thanks to Faber Castell, the 2008 exhibition sponsors. Faber-Castell's sponsorship enabled the society to exhibit at the Royal West of England Academy. Marion and Mike Bray, the UK distributors of Faber-Castell travelled to Bristol for the Private View and were very enthusiastic about the exhibition and spent a long time studying every picture.

Thanks to all those providing awards - Faber Castell, Staedtler, Derwent, Caran d'Ache, Legion paper (Stonehenge), Lyra and UKCPS members President Ann James Massey SWA KA CPSA UKCPS, Founder Bob Ebdon UKCPS, Chairman Peter Weatherill UKCPS and Sophie Roger .

Thanks to the Royal West of England Academy and the New Gallery. Gallery staff were very helpful especially Neil Murison, the Curator of the New Gallery, Peter Swan and Tanya Wildgoose.

More pictures from the UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008 at Bristol

copyright Felicity Grace and used with kind permission

The UKCPS Exhibition could not happen at all without the very special team of people of UKCPS members and helpers (and their families) who help Pat and make an important contribution to its success.

• Thanks to Dave Richards UKCPS, who provides advice and valued support to Pat. Pat tells me that in principle Dave's main role is supposed to be running the Keswick Exhibition each year but that in reality he actually does a great deal more than that. For this year's Annual Exhibition thanks are due to Dave for designing the beautiful invitations and posters, writing all the picture labels and preparing the catalogue for printing.
• Thanks to all those who have helped transport juried entries from around the UK to and from the exhibition. Special mention to Roland Hall and his wife, Peter Woof UKCPS, Robin Borrett UKCPS and to Pat Heffer and her family who are all involved with storing and transporting a significant number of the exhibits. A very great deal of time also goes into wrapping and unwrapping pictures and posting back all those pictures which can't be transported
• Thanks to Jan Wilson who provided a demonstration on two days at the exhibition. This involved travelling from Maidstone and a four hour journey both ways.
• Thanks to Bob Ebdon who despite being officially 'retired' from UKCPS duties and not in the best of health created the special page on the website for the 'virtual' exhibition of all the exhibited entries.

I'll leave the final word to Pat

This is the first time we have held an exhibition in such a prestigious gallery. It was a great success and I felt a bit like a mother hen with her babies! We certainly opened people's eyes to what can be achieved with coloured pencils and promoted both the society and our favoured medium.....I look forward to Birmingham next year with a little trepidation but with a lot of enthusiasm!

UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2008 - Award Winners

The artists and works winning Awards were formally announced at the Private View for UKCPS's 7th Annual Open International Exhibition 2008 in Bristol yesterday.

All the Award winners were selected by Neil Murison, the Curator of the New Gallery of the Royal West of England Academy where the exhibition is being held.

Faber Castell Award for Best in Show (£400.00)
UKCPS Annual Open International Exhibition 2008
"Facing the Enemy" by Peter Höhsl
coloured pencil, 29 x 21cm, £3,050

UKCPS Award for Reserve Best in Show (£300.00)
"Black Watch" by Carol Bramley
coloured pencil, 23 x 16" (framed 36 x 31cm) £425

The Presidents Award (£100)
'Night's Agents' by Nicole Caulfield
coloured pencil, 28 x 36cm (43 x 50cm) £3,200

The Founder's Award for Best UK entry (£100)
'Bad Hair Day' by Bev Lewis
coloured pencil, 26 x 20 cm (42 x 32cm framed) Not For Sale

The Staedtler Award (£100)
'Green Plate' by Peter Woof
13 x 19 cm (39 x 46cm framed) £665

The Derwent Award (£100 voucher Derwent catalogue products)
'Me me, You me' by Kate Clarke
coloured pencil, 27 x 43cm (41 x 57cm framed) £320

The Chairman's Award for Best Landscape (£75)
'View of Torquay' by Galini Dimitriadou
coloured pencil, 30 x 40cm (45 x 55cm framed) £535

Sophie's award for the most innovative entry (£50)
'Self Portrait II' by Suzy Herbert
coloured pencil, 25 x 59cm (35 x 70cm framed) £350

The Caran D'Ache Award (presentation box of pencils)
'Watching and Waiting' by Margaret Edwards
coloured pencil, 41 x 31cm (54 x 64cm framed) £350

The Lyra Award (presentation box of pencils)
'Dry skull Ranch' by Elizabeth Riordon
coloured pencil, 35 x 45cm (51 x 61cm framed) Not For Sale

Links are to members galleries on the UKCPS website or their own websites.

Please remember that the copyright to each image belongs to the artist and they should not be downloaded without written permission.

Peoples Vote: This will be awarded at the end of October after the exhibition closes on 28th October. This award is based on the number of votes each work receives.

Sponsors and judges

UKCPS very much appreciates the support it has received from:

• this year's three excellent jurors who selected the works to be exhibited in the show - Janie Gildow, Hannelore Warning and Neil Murison
  
• Faber Castell, the sponsors of this year's exhibition and the Best in Show Award. Faber Castell are of course the manufacturers of Polychromos artists´ colour pencils and Albrecht Durer artists´ watercolour pencils.

Exhibition details

Later today, the UKCPS website will have a new page displaying all the works in the exhibition. I'll provide a link in this post once the new page has been published.

If you want to visit the exhibition you can find it for the next three weeks in the New Gallery of the Royal West of England Academy, Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX. It's open until Tuesday 28th October. Opening hours on Monday to Saturday are from 10.00am - 5.30pm and on Sunday it's open in the afternoon from 2.00-5.00pm. Last admission is half an hour before closing.

For further details see this post 7th Annual Open International Exhibition 2008 and AGM.

Works for sale

All works are for sale unless otherwise indicated. Shipping and associated insurance costs are not included in the purchase price.

All sales of work in the exhibition are managed by the RWA Gallery. Purchases can be paid for by cash, cheque or credit card or interest-free credit (the latter involves using the Own Art Scheme). Payments are made direct to the RWA. All enquiries about purchasing without visiting the Gallery must be directed to the RWA Gallery. If you have any other enquiries please contact Pat Heffer, the Exhibition Director (right click to copy the email address).

...and there's more to follow

This week I'm highlighting different groups of people in the entries over the next few days:

• Tuesday: Highly Commended entries to the exhibition
  
• Wednesday: UKCPS Members awarded signature status as a result of their acceptance into this year's exhibition
• Thursday: List of Works and Artists selected for the exhibition.
  

Janie Gildow

The UKCPS is delighted to announce that we have managed to get Janie Gildow, CPSA, to be part of our Jury for the 7th Annual Open Exhibition, sponsored by Faber Castell, in October 2008. Full details of the exhibition submission procedures will be available with the March edition of Talking Point, but for now we can reveal that Janie will be one of the panel of three jurors who will decide on which pictures get accepted into the exhibition.

Janie will be well known to most of us through her books - "Coloured Pencil Solutions" (with Barbara Benedetti Newton) and "Coloured Pencil Explorations". On her website she gives some clues as to what she might be looking for in a picture when she says:

"Good art is a result of careful planning, creative expression, strong composition, excellent craftsmanship, and a confident and complete exploration of the medium."

So - time to get the pencils out again! The deadline for submissions will be July 9th, and some other important dates can be seen on our Calendar page. Full details will be coming soon.

New Year, New Opportunities!

A hopefully useful little pocket money idea to spend some of Auntie's Christmas Cash, to kick off the New Year. Some years ago I did a colour conversion chart, comparing colours across a few of the major brands, which UKCPS members will vaguely recall getting a copy of in their joining packs. With the demise of Karismacolor and the arrival of Derwent Coloursoft, I thought it would be worthwhile updating this and this time including swatches of colour. I have done this and some of you may have seen trial packs at the NEC in November. After some tweaking of the printing process and decisions on pricing, the Society is now offering these for sale. I stress that ALL proceeds go to the UKCPS, nothing comes to me.

The charts are divided into approximate colour groups - the Yellow/Orange page is shown above. Where there is possible ambiguity - is Pumpkin Orange an orange or a brown? - colours are repeated on different sheets. The aim is to find replacements for Karisma, so they are in the first column, and I try to match these colours to Derwent Coloursoft, Derwent Artist, Faber Castell Polychromos, Caran d'Ache Supracolour, Lyra Polycolor and Staedtler Karat Aquarelle. With 10 million colours to choose from, it is not surprising that this is a difficult task, and often no proper match is available. Even given the limitations of colour printing though, I believe this chart does give you a good guide where to start looking. One other possible use, for example, would be to try to find a more light-fast alternative to a colour that you know is fugitive in one brand.

Peter Weatherill has kindly agreed to take on all of the mailing and printing of these charts, and the Society is offering them at £5 including postage for UK residents, £6 ($12) including postage to overseas, with a £1 ($2) discount to UKCPS members - quote membership number with order.

To order, please e-mail Peter at wpweatherill@fireflyuk.net - if you have a PayPal account you can also "Send Funds" to this e-mail address. If you need to send a cheque, Peter will give you details. This offer will also appear in the next "Talking Point", but online members have a chance to get theirs early!

For a review of this chart by member Katherine Tyrrell, please have a look at her blog: http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2007/11/coloured-pencils-colour-comparison.html

And a very Happy New Year to all UKCPS Members!