The Pencil Box is a section in Ann Kullberg's COLOR magazine dedicated in featuring artists and artworks from our Facebook partner groups. Selected artworks will be featured in the Art Showcase video or in COLOR magazine.  — Call for entry will be posted every month in participating FB groups — Only members of our partner groups are allowed to join — Open to advanced, advanced-intermediate, and expert skill levels  Please read the guidelines for more details https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1y7UQ3-ZLBpdnZPOE1xMHZCTUE/view  Links to the blog and videos https://annkullberg.com/blogs/ann-muses/the-pencil-box-featured-artists-august-2017 https://www.facebook.com/COLORmag/videos/1385354694894597/ https://www.facebook.com/COLORmag/videos/1385362608227139/

International Open Exhibition 2018

An extra blog this week to bring everyone up to date!
The UKCPS International Open 2018 will take place at a new venue:
The Arts House
14 Rother Street
Stratford upon Avon
CV376LU

The hand in day and Private View will be on 1st May. The exhibition will be open from 2nd May to 11th May. The pick up for pictures will also be 11th May.

We are looking for stewards for the exhibition, all members are welcome, it is a great opportunity to meet other colour pencil artists and see the demonstrations taking place.

We are also looking for demonstrators. This is the perfect opportunity to meet the public and profile your own work along with the society.

The beauty of the new venue is that there is also space for workshops. With only eleven days available, please book your workshop in early!

Mulling over the advice that Malcolm gave us in the last blog entry, I have been wondering what advice I would give to newcomers to colour pencil. I think the advice I would give would be to invest in a sketch book. Your sketchbook becomes your best friend as an artist. You hang out together and play with new media and different ideas, try markmaking and colour mixing, experiment with approaches to different textures . Like your best friend, it also helps you solve problems you come across.

 As Malcolm pointed out, it needs to have good quality paper. My most recent one was a Daler Rowney and the paper was 150g/m. It is a very smooth paper, lovely for graphite and ok with Polychromos pencils, but easily clogged when layering with wax based pencils. I got around the problem by using off- cuts of other papers and sticking them in my sketch book. This time around I have upgraded to a Strathmore journal, more expensive but better paper. As you will already know, colour pencils take time and patience, as a result, you don't need a large sketchbook as you will be probably trying things out on a small scale. An A5 book is probably plenty big enough and easy to carry around with you when you want to go out drawing. Your sketchbook is the perfect place to put into practice the advice and ideas you find along the way. It's private and nowhere near as intimidating as that new sheet of expensive paper waiting for your next drawing!

Remember too, that those colour pencil artist you admire did not achieve those results over night. There was a lot of learning, playing and mistake making going on, and a lot of that happened, and no doubt still happens, in the privacy of their sketchbook.

 

An example from my own sketchbook showing experiments with colour mixing, graphite and colour pencil drawing from life.

 

The UKCPS Blog is taking a slight change in direction and for the next few months we will be sharing hints and tips for using colour pencils provided by long standing users of the medium. It may be that some advice gets repeated, but that will just show how important it is. The aim is to provide support for newcomers to the medium, but I am sure we can all learn something new and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what people have to say.

 

The first person to share their expertise is Malcolm Cudmore. Malcolm's first advice is to buy fewer pencils but better paper. I think we are all junkies when it comes to colour pencils, forever finding room for just another set! Well, we all need to know which pencils suit us best, but buying a few loose stock to test would probably save us a fortune, which we can then invest in quality paper, which is Malcolm's next  advice. The paper we use can make all the difference  to colour pencil, and different pencils and techniques require different papers, so there is no easy answer to which paper to use. Follow your favourite colour pencil artists. Most colour pencil sites on social media require artists to list both pencils and paper used, so this can give you an idea of which papers to try. It is trial and error though to find the best one for you. Although good paper isn't cheap, it is a good investment.

Malcolm also advises that light value is more important than colour. Try half closing your eyes to identify tonal contrasts. Remember also to keep shadows consistent over patterned areas.

Another piece of advice is to work in muliple, light layers. The further from the point you hold your pencil, the lighter the layers will be. For me, mixing layer on layer of colours to achieve the colour I want is one of the joys of colour pencil.

When working from a photograph, don't stress over replicating the surface of the photo, concentrate on the appearance of the subject depicted in it. At the end of the day, people will see your drawing, not the photograph.

Finally, Malcolm advises drawing from life whenever possible.  Useful advice for a medium that often leads to artists being reliant on reference photos. Regular drawing from life improves your ability to see and understand the world around you. For those new to drawing, don't worry, it needn't be an ordeal. Start small, a twist of paper,a  half tied ribbon, a few grapes. Start with line drawings of the same object from different angles. Fill a page with studies so each drawing is less precious. Don't worry about creating great art but try to understand the object in front of you. As your confidence grows you can become more ambitious with your subject matter.

Winner of the Derwent Art Prize

Derwent Art Prize 2016

The UK Coloured Pencil Society was proud to again award a prize for Excellence at the 3^rd Derwent Art Prize held at the Mall Gallery, London. This year our worthy winner, selected by Morryce Maddams, was ‘Poor Old Kitty has had her Day’ by Angharad Pelling.

Angharad received a cheque for £250 plus a free year’s membership and we look forward to welcoming her to the society.

http://www.derwent-artprize.com/

Book Review: 12 Coloured Pencils Techniques By Cindy Wider

Title: 12 Coloured Pencils Techniques
Author: Cindy Wider
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2016
ISBN:  9781533635853 
Pages: 142pp
Price: £24.08
Where to buy: Amazon 

Who for:  beginners, artists, art tutors, art students, reference

There are books, there are good books, and there are excellent books. Cindy Wider's book is excellent.

Whether you are a beginner just picked up a bundle of coloured pencils and want to create art work, or you are a seasoned artist thinking of exploring coloured pencils this book is a must have.

Wider covers all the essentials to creating art with coloured pencils. She guides the reader right from the first steps of what equipment is needed right through to understanding colour mixing and controlling colour tones.

The book is set out as a Seven Week course in coloured pencils. For example, The first week explores the key techniques: Sharp and dull pencil points, gradations, blending and so on. The following sections delve deeper in the methods of using coloured pencils.

The book explores the most important techniques a coloured pencils artist must know

The book stands out in many ways, I don't want to spoil the enjoyment for you! But in particular I do like Wider's tips and advice on organising yourself, getting materials around you, and very importantly keeping motivated and focussed.

The book is very well illustrated which is extremely important in a how-to book.
The techniques are explained in detail and supported with excellent illustrations and are relevant to the beginning artist.

Wider covers the essentials for making your coloured pencils journey not only a pleasure but a success too.

Coloured pencils techniques are well illustrated and explained

I highly recommend Cindy Wider's book; Wider genuinely shares her knowledge and expertise with her readers, the tutorials are well planned and geared for beginning coloured pencils users.

Cindy Wider at work

You might be interested in other books by Cindy Wider on using pencils:

12 Charcoal Techniques: A complete five week course

6 Pencils Techniques: A complete two week course

both can be obtained from Amazon.

Book Review: Drawing and Painting Flowers with Coloured Pencils - Trudy Friend

Book Title: Drawing and Painting Flowers with Coloured Pencils
Author: Trudy Friend
Publisher: The Search Press www.searchpress.com
ISBN: 978-1-84448-942-8
Published: 2014, Reprinted 2015
Pages: 144, Colour illustrations
RRP: £15.99

Who For: Intermediate amateur and professional artists wishing to try coloured pencils.

In Drawing and Painting Flowers with Coloured Pencils, Trudy Friend demonstrates the versatility and flexibility of coloured pencils. The book guides the reader from starting out with pencils and materials to tackling complicated compositional pieces.

In the first section, Friend introduces her choice of pencils: the Derwent range. She guides the newcomer through the various types and describes their characteristics and possible methods of application. Coloured pencils are not what they used to be many years ago, these days they are a medium for professional work of the highest quality. This is very evident in Friend's many demonstrations which the book is packed with.

The other sections take the reader through a logical and well organised topics. This makes it possible to dip into the sections rather than reading the book cover to cover. Having said this, for the newcomer to coloured pencils, I would advise a good look through the book so that the various techniques are covered. 

There are two key aspects of the book which I really like. First is Friend's approach to using the full range of pencils, water and non-water soluble, in a multimedia technique. Thus making full use of the potential of the medium and achieving impressive results. Beginning artists may find the approach particularly helpful, especially if watercolour is a medium they are familiar with.

Using coloured pencils in a multi-media approach

The second, is the way Friend uses objects to give the flower paintings and drawings substance and context. For example, she uses objects such as a water pump, a pair of old boots, and even a bicycle! The compositions are effective and the various elements support each other. This is particularly useful for artists who may find painting flowers in a 'botanical' style not easy or not what they want. These compositions can also be found in most gardens

Including objects to give context to paintings

Coloured pencils are the medium of the future. More and more professional artists are finding its versatility, and lucky for us manufacturers of art materials are responding to the demand. New and exciting products are being introduced regularly..

The book will serve the reader well as both an instructional and inspirational resource.

Mo Awkati