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May 6th, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
CPSC Monthly Colour Challenge
April showers have brought May flowers and this month our Colour Challenge is to mix a pink. Usually we have all kinds of pink pencils to choose from, everything from rose to shell to shocking. But what would you do if you had no pre-mixed pinks? Well, this month you’re going to find out!
First, find something pink. Anything you like: it can be a flower or a teacup or a lipstick. Now get out your pencils. You may use any red, any white and any colour at all EXCEPT your pre-mixed pinks. Don’t worry: pre-mixed pinks may be beautiful and useful, but they aren’t absolutely necessary. Give yourself a chance and you’ll be amazed at what you can do without them!
May 1st, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Alexandra Bastien, CPSC Vice President
Here I will discuss a topic that worries many artists who are beginning their careers. When you have your work represented by a gallery, it’s often the gallery which manages the prices for your work. So I will elaborate on this aspect a little further on in this article. But if you are not represented by an art gallery, here are some tips that may help you to find the price range that will be fair to you and to all your potential customers.
First, we must take into account a general rule; in the art world, prices are determined mainly by size and medium. For two-dimensional works, oil has the highest price range, followed by acrylic, and then by works on paper (watercolor, pastels, charcoal, coloured pencils, graphite). A painting is usually sold for more than a sketch on paper. This is not always the case, but framed works under glass are more difficult to sell in commercial galleries. Buyers who visit art galleries are often visiting tourists and prefer to purchase a work (e.g. a painting) which they can roll up in their luggage. Frames with glass, middle-to-large-sizes are more difficult . . . → Read More: How To Set A Fair Price For Your Work?
April 1st, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
CPSC Monthly Colour Challenge
Spring is here and so is green! Pine green, grass green, jade green, emerald green, viridian … and those are just a few. Perhaps because of its bewildering variety, green is often considered a difficult colour to mix. Picasso once complained that not one of the myriad greens in nature could be found in a tube. Neither, of course, will any of them be found in a pencil. So are you up to mixing a green, WITHOUT using any of your green pencils?
Yes, green is our Colour Challenge for April. Choose a green object – or even several, if you’re feeling brave! You can use any colour you like EXCEPT green. So get out your blues and yellows … and while you’re at it, don’t forget about all those reds, browns, violets and turquoises you’ve got too!
March 4th, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
CPSC Monthly Colour Challenge
Lion or lamb, this is the month of slush and melting and mud … in other words, the not-so-glamorous colour brown. So often brown is dismissed as a dull boring colour – even nondescript. But brown can be as rich and lively as any colour out there! It can be warm with gold and red or softly cooled and muted with dark blue. It can glow as bright as amber or be as dark as bitter chocolate. It can be rust, coffee, taupe, sand, umber, chestnut, caramel … the list goes on and on.
Good large sets of pencils usually include several different browns and maybe you’ve never ventured into trying to mix your own. But you will now because that’s our Colour Challenge for March: mix a brown! No pre-mixed browns or beiges allowed. Find something brown – a nut, a potato, a cardboard box – and render it without using ANY of your brown pencils. If you want to be really daring, don’t touch your grays or blacks either. Happy colouring!
February 5th, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
CPSC Monthly Colour Challenge
Welcome everyone! It’s time for another Monthly Colour Challenge. Here’s one with a twist: can you create something transparent? Transparent things are a special challenge because we tend to think of them as more or less invisible – at least as far as colour is concerned. We might add some gray here or a highlight there, but that’s about it. Yet transparent things DO alter colours in many subtle and unexpected ways – we just have to take the time to look.
You don’t have any “clear” pencils, but you still have all your complements, so don’t reach for those grays and blacks just yet. Choose a transparent object – it can be anything from a glass jar to a crystal vase to an icicle. Place it against the colour background of your choice, and look carefully. Can you see the colours? Can you render them without any pre-mixed blacks or grays? Let’s find out!
February 1st, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
The Three Graces by Ester Roi
The first time I saw some of Ester Roi’s work one word came immediately to mind: “blazing.” Such colour! I’m never surprised by the idea that coloured pencils can do extraordinary things but in this case I was particularly impressed and curious to learn more of her technique. When I found out about her Icarus Drawing Board I thought I would love to try it some day. Then the day arrived in January, with a late and unexpected Christmas present. Hooray!
For those of you who may not have heard of it, the Icarus Board is a portable drawing board with a “warm zone” that can be heated electrically. The heated surface causes any wax-based media to soften or even melt; when returned to room temperature, the medium solidifies once more. It is suitable for artist crayons, oil pastels and, of course, coloured pencils. Roi has developed many techniques for her invention and her own radiant work shows what may be accomplished with it. My own experiences are extremely limited since I’ve hardly used it yet, but here’s what I have to tell you so far.
First, . . . → Read More: First Impressions Of The Icarus Drawing Board
January 9th, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Manon Leclerc, CPSC Member photos © Manon LeClerc
This article was originally published in the webzine “Crayons de couleur, le Mag” in November 2011. The webzine is available at: http://crayonsdecouleurlemag.jimdo.com/
Resistance to light is a major issue for all artistic media, including coloured pencils. Artists must take into consideration the quality of products used to ensure the long-lastingness of their works. Coloured pencil is no exception. Many coloured pencil artists assume that all artist-quality pencils have excellent resistance to light. Unfortunately, the reality is different …
Artist-grade pencils are made with pigments and binders of better quality than those in student- or middle-grade pencils, so artist-grade pencils are more likely to resist fading. However, the term “artist quality” on a box of pencils does not guarantee the product’s lightfastness. Some pigments are more susceptible to fading over time. Also, should you happen to have any old pencils, it is quite possible that they possess less resistance to light, since before 2003, there weren’t any standards in this area. Today, manufacturers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of offering products with improved stability to light.
Why is this important?
The durability of a work in coloured pencil is . . . → Read More: Coloured Pencil Lightfastness
January 1st, 2012 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
JANUARY COLOUR CHALLENGE
Happy New Year from the CPSC! We’re starting 2012 with a new Monthly Colour Challenge for you. So far you’ve created your own unique blacks and grays – and even whites – by blending complementary colours. Very good, but don’t put those complements away yet … because this month you’ll need them for silver!
While we tend to think of silver as white or colourless, it is really full of colour because it reflects everything around it. A lot of us find reflective surfaces intimidating, so go easy. Take a small shiny-silvery object such as a Hershey’s Kiss or a key. Place it on whatever colour background you like and look at it carefully. There’s a whole world of colour reflected there! So DON’T get out your metallics if you have them. They won’t do the job at all. And DON’T just reach for your pre-mixed grays and blacks either. Mix the colours you find. You can do it if you try!
December 1st, 2011 By Guest Author / Contributor written by Erica Walker, CPSC Secretary-Treasurer
Mary's Journey by Lissa Rachelle Robillard
It’s December (already!) and things are happening at the CPSC! First of all we’re especially pleased to present Ottawa-based Lissa Rachelle Robillard as our Featured Artist for the month of December. Lissa is our Webmaster and Membership Director. She has always loved all things pencil but coloured pencil has a special place in her heart. The CPSC would not be where it is today without her efforts and we’re grateful that she’s taken the time to share her journey with us here.
We also want to remind you that it’s time for another Monthly Colour Challenge. We’ve done black, we’ve done gray … now, are you ready for white? We often think of white as colourless and use a few gray pencils to capture its values. But a closer look reveals all kinds of delicate and not-so-delicate hues. Those ‘colourless’ areas contain everything from brown to gold to blue to lavender. Last month you put away your gray pencils and mixed your neutrals from complementary colours. Now you can take those same colours and mix up something white.
Yes, that’s our challenge for December! Take a white . . . → Read More: Tis The Season — To Be Colouring!
November 5th, 2011 By Guest Author / Contributor NOVEMBER COLOUR CHALLENGE
Get ready for another Monthly CPSC Colour Challenge! Several of you rose to the occasion for October and produced some very impressive blacks, without so much as touching your black pencils. Bravo! Now, are you ready for November, that month of neutrals?
November is perhaps the best month in the year for neutrals. Gray comes out in full force, when brighter, bolder colours have at last left the stage. At first it may seem dull. But gray isn’t really dull at all – it’s just shy. It tends to whisper where more confident colours shout. There’s a whole world of beautiful, elusive shades of gray out there, and no amount of pre-mixed gray can ever hope to capture them. That’s why we’ve decided to confiscate all your pre-mixed neutrals.
Yes, that’s our Colour Challenge for November! Complementary colours can create glowing, one-of-a-kind neutrals, as rich and beautiful as any other colour. So can you render something gray, WITHOUT using a gray pencil? It can be anything from a pebble to a tree branch to a scarf. Get your complements out and let’s see what you can do!
. . . → Read More: CPSC November Colour Challenge
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