Roshambo

Prismacolor colored pencil on Stonehenge paper,  12" x 18"
(click to enlarge)

Oh, little blog, what shall I do with you?
I've neglected you in favor of the speedier and more visual Instagram.
The stats tell me that very few people visit you, but is that a good reason to ignore you?
To blog or not to blog. If only you could help me decide.
Hmmm... put out your fist like this...

A persistent package

Why? Because sometimes an idea for a drawing just nags at you until you let it have its way. Last Christmas, I was taken in by the look of the gift-wrapped packages, The highlights and shadows in the creases in the paper, the shapes created by the knotted ribbon, etc. So I wrapped a box in a classic Christmas red and....never got around to it. Until now. Merry Christmas, 202 days early.

Greens

Green is my favorite color. Last week I was looking for inspiration in the produce department of my grocery store when I was taken in by the beautiful way that white transitions to green in these vegetables, a head of bok choy and a leek.  I intentionally kept the white area very light; in fact I actually started with even less work in those areas than you see here. 

Prismacolor makes a pretty good range of greens (as you can see in my trusty old swatch chart) but, as is also true of their other colors, the lighter shades are much waxier (less pigment = more wax I assume) and are more difficult to blend. 

I did the bok choy first, and I was really fighting with the texture of my Stonehenge paper which is unusual. Then it dawned on me: it has a smooth side and a very slightly textured side. How had I forgotten this? So, I was careful to use the smoother side for the leek. Look at the difference (click to enlarge):

(Hey, that's the first time Blogger allowed me to place images side-by-side! 

New feature?!)

By the way, I also bought a third veggie that may round out this trio. Any guesses?

Flavor-of-the-Month: Stonehenge "Kraft"

I'm infatuated with Stonehenge "Kraft" paper at the moment. You've seen it in my paper bag drawing, and this portobello mushroom.Yesterday I drew some plain ol' white button mushrooms to go with the portobello. (I love them, but did I overdo the outline?) Stonehenge paper is nice and heavy, and "Kraft" is a perfect tone for drawing light-colored things. Like all of the Stonehenge paper, its surface takes colored pencil beautifully—it almost felt like I was painting on it.

One challenge with using any toned paper is getting an accurate scan. Drawings on white-ish paper are easier to color correct using the paper as the whitest point. You'll notice that it looks slightly different in my three drawings; I'm going to have to play around to see if I can find a good group of Photoshop/scanner settings for it. (If anyone has any tips, please share!)

Two Envelopes

(Prismacolor colored pencil on Stonehenge paper)

click to enlarge

It's sometimes hard to explain why we draw what we do. I suppose that many people will wonder why I drew these two envelopes. But I can only explain that I love paper and things made from paper, and when I saw this black envelope lying next to the white one, it looked rather beautiful to my eye. 

The black envelope became more of a grey one in the final drawing. I might have used graphite but chose to use colored pencil and I liked the cross-hatched grey tone I was getting. I think that the white envelope might have been more successful in graphite, though. Next time.

I tend to anthropomorphize things while I'm drawing them: a group of tomatoes becomes a family; some ground cherries are proud parents; even an eggplant becomes a Jane Austen heroine. I see something here as well—do you? 

A couple of WIP shots. (I think I like the second one as well as the finished product.)