Don't Knock the Pencil!

Pencils are probably the second drawing medium we are introduced to as children (crayons being the first) and by many are still thought of as "kids' stuff". But no!

Pencils are responsive, sensitive coloured vessels that are extremely versatile and deserve far more respect than they currently command.

To obtain the best results one must use quality materials. Pencils are no different and the same must be said for the surface one works on. I work exclusively with Berol Prismacolour and Faber Castell Poychromos coloured pencils. Their colours are rich and soft while they respond well when used on heavy/soft acid-free papers and boards. I prefer a strong background colour, especially ochres and greys, even black. 

The beauty of working with two brands of coloured pencil is the huge palette one is presented with. Working on Canson pastel board is the best!  Your subject matter will drive both background colour and palette. Experimentation is essential to get the best results.

I always work out my palette through test strips and I even lay my pencils out as if I were undertaking a surgical procedure!

What surfaces do you draw on? I would like to know what other artists use.

Happy drawing!

Richard

ACP Artist - Artist Profile - Richard Klekociuk

Name: Richard Klekociuk

Website: http://www.artkleko.com

Born in Hobart, in 1950, I developed a passion for drawing from my father.

I graduated from the Tasmanian School of Art in 1971 as an Art Teacher and worked in seven Government schools before retiring in December of 2005 to pursue a greater focus on my art.

During my time as a teacher I managed to practice my art where and when possible. As well as a producer of art, I am currently the Curator of the Mezzanine Gallery at Country Club Tasmania and conduct occasional art workshops.

I began exhibiting in 1976 with the Tasmanian Independent Artists’ Group.

Besides many solo exhibitions, I was a member of the former, Tasmanian Abstract and Contemporary Artists’ group (vice-President) and I have recently re-joined the Launceston Art Society, and am a member of the Burnie Coastal Art Group.

I have won several awards, the most noteworthy being the ABC Art Prize in 1970 and the ANZ Art Prize at the 1998 Royal Hobart Show.

Drawing, whether in pastel (oil and chalk) or pencil (greyscale and colour) has always been the mainstay of my visual expression. Over the past ten years I have focussed on coloured pencils, some with a chalky finish and others displaying wax-like qualities. I work on a variety of papers and pastel boards, preferring a coloured surface.

My artwork has always been about the Tasmanian landscape. My most recent work is a complex mix of Christian symbolism, shadows and macro studies, often from forest floors. Some pieces are direct social commentaries while others celebrate design in nature.

Over the past ten years I have also developed a keen interest in photography and in particular, digital art which is closely related to my work involving symbolism.

Thankyou and Masterful Color by Arlene Steinberg

First of all, thankyou to all the artists who have agreed to be associated with this site I have put a link to all of your website on the right. We are starting to get a few names there which is fantastic!
Richard Klekociuk was kind enough to send me some images of his work so i will be doing an artist profile post on him in the next couple of days, stay tuned for that.

Today i was very excited to receive my copy of Arlene Steinberg's new book "Masterful Color".
I have known Arlene for a few years now via online forums etc, her work was one of the first ever coloured pencil pieces i have ever seen and inspired me to start working with cp, so i was so excited to receive her new book (i have been waiting on for a while). Arlene supplied me a couple of weeks ago with a breakdown of her book have a look at my blog post here if your interested.
It's not just your standard cp technique book, she taught me alot about complimentary colours and underpaintings in my pieces and she demonstrates this technique in her book. For the beginner she also has line drawings that you can trace or photocopy to get you started. I am yet to get stuck into it, but on first glance looks great. Not sure if it will come out in bookshops here but if it does definately work a flick through.

ACP Artist - Artist Profile - Belinda Lindhardt

Name: Belinda Lindhardt

Website: www.belindalindhardt.com

Blog: belindalindhardt.blogspot.com

Bio

I am a self taught artist and I have been producing coloured pencil works for about 5 years now. My love of coloured pencils first started when i joined an online forum and saw a bunch of works by many of the famous overseas CP artists and it changed the way i looked at art forever. I was in awe of their talent and started working on the various tutorials and techniques they had offered online so generously and from there with lots of practice learnt many of the basic techniques i still use today.

In my CP artworks i am drawn to capturing stilllife, animals, florals and people. I used to work primarily with Prismacolor pencils but lately i have been incorporating both Polychromos and Coloursofts and have been loving it so my pieces these days are typically a combination of all three brands. I work with many different types of supports and recently been experimenting with Pastelboards. I was excited recently to find an Australian distributor of pastelboards and hoping to give that brand a go soon (so then i can frame without glass). In the past my pieces have been featured on drafting film, stonehenge white and blank colours as well as some watercolour papers. I find the subject will dictate as to which type of support i will use as well as final size, framing options etc. I love using complimentary colours and complimentary grisaille in my works. I can attribute that technique to following Arlene Steinberg's lessons and tutorials and these taught me a lot using complimentary colours for achieving rich colours.

I DO like to blend, I use brushes, makeup pads, cotton tips, solvents, my finger and sometimes the colourless blender. I recently have been using Neocolours II with a slightly damp brush underneath my pencil particularly for backgrounds. I generally like a really smooth feel with no bumps and ridges showing through i am trying desperately to kerb this obsession as its very time consuming but i generally "know" when an area is done. I generally always burnish most areas towards the end.

Here are some examples of Belinda's Work

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Hi and Welcome - an intro to Australian Coloured Pencils blog

Hi and Welcome.

This blog was started for a few reasons, the one main one being that I wanted to create a place where Australian Coloured Pencils (ACP) artists can meet up and get to know one another. There doesn't seem to be much local support for ACP artists and most of us don't know who the others are so with this blog wanted to try to change this a little :)

In recent times, people have contacted me asking whether there was any local societies available, the US and UK have their societies and the short answer is no there is nothing like that here that i can find. That doesn't mean there can't be one in the future but we need the members and participants to support it so i am also hoping that this blog would be a way of asessing what sort of interest there is. I think we are getting more and more CP artists in Aus so this blog would be a good place at least start to gather a list all of your websites and contact details with the view that if there is enough interest eventually we can build an online gallery / website and maybe even our own society later on down the track.

At the moment i have left this blog open to the public so that we can display our work and become a bit of a directory but if artists want more of a closed community we can turn the public function off and just have it a closed blog to members only if that issue arises.

Getting Involved
I see this blog as a community project, i just don't want this blog just to be updated by myself, i would like others to help add to the site and keep the site fresh and new for the interest of all of us.
So here is how you could be involved:

• If you are an Australian cp artist send me your website or blog address and i will add you to the list (right) of ACP artists.

• If you have a show or some cp news you would like to share or just want to show a wip or new work, i would like to have multiple artist authors so you can either send me an email with the details you would like to add to this site or request to be an author to add to the site yourself, please only do this if you would like to be adding regularly.
  

• I thought we could also do a mini gallery / profile via a blog post for ACP artists, i will start and do one on myself, if you would like to have your own work displayed either by adding it yourself or sending me the details and i will ad it. Please include some photos of your artwork and a short bio on yourself and your website or email address whichever you prefer.

• If you post on your own blog on tips techniques etc make sure let me know and i will link to it.

So, there you have it, not sure whether anyone is interested in participating or not but i figured why not give it a go and see if you are :) Are you ?