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Friday, April 17, 2009

Start of a new portrait

Things have slowed down recently behind the drawing board as I’m just not putting in the hours that I should be just now with the result that everything is taking that bit longer to complete. The school holidays haven’t helped as I never seem to get much done during them anyway, but mainly it’s just a simple case of life getting in the way……… again. Hopefully next week things will be back to normal and I’ll be managing my time better.

I’ve made a start on my next portrait, which happens to be a beautiful Springer Spaniel called Thistle. Here are the first couple of stages.

I was made aware of a new website this week called Colored Pencil Central which you might find interesting, especially if you love coloured pencils like I do. Set up by Ann Kullberg, it is basically a directory of coloured pencil websites, blogs, videos, workshops, etc and is well worth a visit. No doubt I’ll spend many an hour admiring the work of other artists and more blogs will be added to my favourites.

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6 comments:

  1. adebanji1:37 am

    I am a great fan of all your pieces, please if I may ask, which brand of coloured pencils do you like/use most and what sort of paper do you use for your ground.

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  2. Elizabeth McCrindle6:32 am

    Beautiful as always. You've captured that eager to please look Spaniels always have plus Thistle is a nickname a lot of my internet friends know me by :))

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  3. Christine Perry | Graphite Art6:49 am

    He is looking gorgeous already. Thanks for posting the link for the new cp site! One can never have too many links ;o ) Love your work!

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  4. Laura3:30 pm

    Hi Adebanji

    Thank you for stopping by my blog - I love your mixed media drawings and they always inspire me to experiment more. I worked a lot like this in my college days so they take me back:)

    I use quite a few brands of artists pencils mainly Derwent Artist, Derwent Colorsoft, FC Polychromos, Caran D'Ache Pablo, Caran D'Ache Luminance and Prismacolor.

    The pencils I use the most would have to be Derwent Artist and FC Polychromos (although I'm finding I really like Caran D'Ache Pablo pencils these days and need to get more colours in this range)simply because they have the harder lead and keep their point longer. I find I can get a lot more detail with these pencils than ones with the softer, creamier leads.

    As for my paper I always use Fabriano Artistico Hot Pressed Watercolour paper (140lb) and haven't yet come across one I like better. The main thing with this paper is that it's smooth but has enough tooth to take many layers of pencil which is really important to me. I can't recomend the paper highly enough.

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  5. Laura3:30 pm

    Hi Elizabeth - thank you, this was certainly my aim and its good to know I got there:) I'm intrigued now as to why Thistle is your nickname - because you are Scottish perhaps?

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  6. Laura3:31 pm

    Hi Christine and thank you:) I totally agree that one can never have to many links - just wish I had the time to follow them all:)

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