Happy New Year and "Simplicity"

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

I've learned many things about different colored pencil techniques and materials over the past couple years. For this piece, I used a mixture of Prismacolor Premier and Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils on Arches Hot Pressed 140lb watercolour paper. Prismacolors are wax based and Polychromos are oil based. The wax of the Prismacolors did not blend well on this paper, but the Polychromos worked nicely.  I have learned that it is not just the brand of pencil you use that is important, but the key is getting the right combination of the type of paper and pencil.

As for the subject matter... I named this drawing "Simplicity," because it reminds me of a time when things were a little less complicated, and the simple things - like a PB&J - are often the most satisfying. It is the first time that I thought of an idea, gathered the props, took my own photos, edited them in Photoshop and created one reference photo to work from. The photo on the left is one of the many I used to create the final reference.  You can see that I added the wallpaper, changed some colors a bit, and only used two canisters instead of three. This is the third in a series of food drawings that will be in a show in March.

I enjoy the nostalgic themes and am not sure if I will continue down this path or create a series of three of each of the drawings I've already done, taking more of a thematic approach. It is a challenge to find just the right balance of what subjects I'd like to draw, and what someone may want to hang in their home. Stay tuned for what comes next!   

Until next time...

Michele