Two ATCs

I hadn't much time the last two days for doing much art - and also not for going on with my farmhouse or the castle or the still-life - but I felt like doing something quick so what's better in this case than an ATC!

I did these two - kind of phantasy art or whimsical or .... I have no idea how to name this style.

"Seahippo"

"Earthlove"

Both are done with Cd'A Supras wet and dry on clairefontaine pastelmat.

Thirsty kitten

Don't think that I have the bathroom for my own - our youngest cat always hurries to the bathroom when she hears that someone is in there. Either she occupies the toilet bowl so you could get some tiny problems or if you want to wash your hands she already is there.
And the running water it is her biggest joy:

Update farmhouse and more

Just a quick update without many words:

Farmhouse:

The pears and grapes with Supracolors:

My new CPs

Okay - now it's a fact: I'm one of thoose people who must have every kind of pencils that are produced on this planet. But I fear I also would buy a set of "Moon-Made-CPs" or "CPs dine by little green people from Mars".

However - my new set is the full set of

Supracolor II Soft

and I have to confess: BEST EVER!

I never thought that I would say that but there are pencils that are better than Prismas. At least in my eyes. (Ouch! I better say in my hands.) Now let me say a bit about them.

First the facts:

o Supracolor are made by Caran d'Ache, a producer in Switzerland.

o They come in a range of 120 colours.

o They are watersoluble.

o They are wax- and oilless (this word looks strange, or not?) so they have no wax-bloom or glossy shine.

o They have the same color chart as their "siblings" Pablo, the oil or waxbased CPs made by Caran d'Ache

The lightfastness is very good:

# - 7 of 120 pencils have one star = good lightfastnes

# - 66 of 120 have two stars = very good

# - 47 of 120 pencils are rated with three stars = excellent!

You can have a look at the whole information sheet at www.carandache.com

They are wonderful soft and easy to layer. If I want to solve I simply can use water instead of Zest-It (although I love it) and the colors are wonderful - dry AND wet.

This is for example a huge differerence to the inktense pencils. Inktense only show their real colour and beauty after applying water - these watercolour pencils are also dry beautiful.

I'm doing a still-life on two different surfaces - Clairefontaine pastelmat (sienna) and Bristol Board (ATC size) - because I want to know how these pencils behave on the different mediums. The feeling on both is wonderful and I can layer and layer. On the bristol board I use the pencils dry and on the Clairefontaine I added water. (Great surface btw for dry AND wet! I will talk about it another day.)

This is what I have so far:

When finished I'll post also the colour chart which I am going to make on Stonehenge paper.

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An apology

Oops.

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I am so sorry - how could I forget the wonderful Scribble talk????
Years ago I joined in there but then the place there became a bit more quiet and I used more other media than pencils.

Teresa mentioned it and I am so happy to have it back because it is a wonderful community for pencil painters. Have a look at SCRIBBLE TALK - it is well worth.

And a special Thank You to Teresa Mallen who brought this back in my mind. Btw - visit her blog, she is an amazing artist and a wonderful encourager and motivator!

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Still-life and a discovery

Last days I tried out Caran d'Aches Supracolor Soft pencils. I bought them about one or two months ago (lucky shot) but never used them.
But now I decided to give them a go and I am totally thrilled. I started a still-life with my Prismas (outline and a little layering on the candle-holder) on Clairefontaine Pastelmat (coloured) and then went on with the supracolors.
I added different layers on the candle-holder and the apple, wettened the colour, let it dry and then added more layers.
It was huge fun to work this way and the surface seems to fit perfect.

This is the reference I worked from. I took this photo two years ago in autumn so it is more an autumn picture but who cares....

And here is the result. It is not finished yet, close to but not at all - and believe me: Right now I am as proud as a 6 year old one on the first schoolday with a paper funnel.

I think these Supracolor pencils have won a new fan.

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Juicy Dura-Lar :-))

Some days ago hubby seemd to miss me. *lol* I was busy with drawing and didn't watch the time so hubby asked me if I was in the wide wide universe *lol)
I laughed and answered 'No, just spending time with an orange or better a photo of an orange from Alyona Nickelsen's CP book.

I am not that enthusiastic about her book, I expected more if I'm honest. Although when I started to read the book I thought it is phantastic and it definately has some very good chapters on composing and color theory and so on. And of course it is good if you haven't seen other CP books before like Ann Kullberg or especially Janie Gildow.

However - I started the orange from her book - but my own way (I have no solvent yet - will come in a few days). And - I used the very first time Dura-Lar. It behaves very different from eg Stonehenge paper or Bristol board, doesn't take so many layers as I'm used to apply but -------------- I LOVE IT!I made some mistakes but I am pretty satisfied with the result.

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I now darkened the left peel. I'm not sure if it is better now or if I ruined it.

Invitation

For some reason I had to delete the link to a big art community (I draw and paint) and I also will leave this place there.

Art is a wonderful thing and we should be free in our art. Especially when we belong to a community. Nobody is allowed to tell us how many artworks we do or show to other people.

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Nobody is allowed to set people under pressure a determine to make comments and nobody should be allowed to kick one out of a community if he or she doesn't follow rules like I just mentioned. A community that allows admins a behaviour like this and even support it is not worth to be a member there.
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There are many good communities like Wet Canvas, Let's make Art, Craft Crowd, Give your walls some soul and so on which are worth, very well worth, to join. But I haven't found any community for CP artists so I now will try to start one.

It is called

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The Pencil Painting Network

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and it is open for every artist who work with a pencil - CPs in every variation, graphite as well as ink. There are no rules except to be kind and friendly to each other and to enjoy and have fun.

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If you are interested, have a look at it or join in. Like everything it takes time to grow but just have a look - it is for free ;-) .

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Visit Pencil Painting Network

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I would love to see you there.

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