The following was written by student Ethne Papenfus who has been studying on the Coloured Pencil Online Art Course. We hope you enjoy reading about Ethne’s latest drawing below.
“The photo for this drawing was taken from the deck of a cruise ship in the Antarctic. The ship sails slowly to give plenty of time for passengers to take photos. One is so overwhelmed by the beauty all around one comes home with thousands of photos and wonderful memories, but no opportunity to sketch on site. Some floating ice on the sea, but very small and more distracting than in any way adding to the picture; omitted from the drawing.
Some artists and tutors advocate leaving the areas of white without using a white colour pencil, but that was entirely unsuccessful in this case, it simply looked unfinished. I used white pencil in layers, using various brands, particularly the softer pencils. This worked better, but I tended to pick up a yellowish tinge with additional layers. Experimenting on separate paper to deepen the white only exacerbated the yellowing.
The size of the drawing is A3 and the paper is Italian Fabriano paper, 50% cotton. This paper is used quite frequently, but I am wondering if it was in any way part of the problem with the yellowish tint in the rendering of the white. Have not had that experience previously, but then have not done a picture requiring similar depths of white and blue.”
Ethne Papenfus
