Student Jane Tivey completed these two superb pieces whilst working on the Coloured Pencil Course with Monika Cilmi. We have added some of the text that Jane wrote to Monika to go along side the images so that studnets can read about the colours and papers that Jane used while drawing them. we hope that our readers find it useful and inspiring.
Pencils Used: Prismacolor Premier – 70% French Grey,20% warm and cool greys,50% warm and cool greys, olive green, lime peel, spring green, sand, cream, peach yellow ochre, light umber, dark purple, white, cloud blue, dak umber, Tuscan red, jade green, golden rod.
Coloursoft: Grey Green, dove grey, grey lavender, petrel grey, Lincoln green, lichen green, mid terracotta, Prussian blue, iced blue. Colourless blender, electric eraser.
Paper: 11×14 white Stonehenge.
Comments: Whilst the boat is correctly placed in relation to the foreshore it is too close to the edge of the paper. I think it is in proportion to the rest of the items in the painting; I should perhaps have made all components slightly smaller to give more space at the bottom or used a larger sheet of paper!
Junk – I spent quite a lot of time just thinking about which ‘junk’ to use! In the end I decided to take the advice of a couple of people who had suggested I use junk that had some memories for me rather than just odds and ends. I chucked the objects I found into a bowl and then did some arranging to, hopefully, make them a bit more interesting to look at. I also liked the different textures they offered.
Pencils used (all Derwent coloursoft unless otherwise stated as PrismPremier (PP)):
Teddy Bear: Yellow Ochre, Deep Cadmium, Touch Lemon Yellow, Ginger Root, Cream, White Petrel Grey
Sewing Kit: Golden Rod (PP), Light Sand
Matchbook: Penguin – Petrel Grey, Dove Grey, Cloud Blue (PP)
Book – Orange (PP), Prussian Blue, Indigo, Light Sand, White Grey
Egg: Pale Orange, Blood Orange, Orange (PP), Pale Mint, Mint, Grey Green,
Mid Green, Petrel Grey, Pale Blue, Indigo, Ultramarine, Violet Blue (PP), Dark Umber
Darning Mushroom: Pale Brown, Dark Terracotta, Ochre, Mid Terracotta, Dark Brown, Golden Rod
Rock: Pale Brown, Light Umber (PP), Ochre, Light Sand, Peach, Cream, Sienna Brown (PP)
Key: Ochre, Brown Earth, 70% French Grey (PP)
String: The string was created by leaving it the colour of the paper and then using dove grey to give the rope effect
Bottle: Ultramarine, Indigo, Dark Umber (PP), Pale Lavender, 20% cold grey (PP), 50% cold grey (PP), Persian Grey
Marble: Pale Blue, Ultramarine, Cloud Blue (PP)
Leaf: Burnt Ochre, Peach, Terracotta (PP)
Bowl: Cream, Prussian Blue, Dark Umber, Pale Brown, Light Sand, Grey Green
Background: Indigo, Dark Umber, Cream White
Paper used: Bristol vellum surface, 11” by 14”, 270g/m2 actual picture size: 10.5” by 8.25”
Difficulties/areas for improvement/comments.
Overall I’m reasonably happy with the completed painting. Using the embossing tool helped to ensure the white areas were achieved but it is also unforgiving as if you emboss in the wrong place as it is not easy to lose it!
I would have liked some of the objects to have looked more ‘glossy’; I did use a burnishing pencil on the rock but it hasn’t really helped. The bottle definitely needs to be more ‘glassy’.I had some problems creating and maintain the roundness of the bowl; I was in danger of making it thinner and thinner if I wasn’t careful!
I would estimate about 20 hours overall for this painting; as the painting sits on an easel in my conservatory I can fairly easily nip in and do bits if I see something that doesn’t look right so keeping a tally of these odd 15 minutes can be difficult!
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