The last few years have been devoted to developing artwork to
show in exhibition entries. The colored Pencil Society of America, (CPSA,)
holds two annual exhibitions: the International Exhibition and
the Explore This! exhibition. They vary in respect to
what materials may be used in the artwork. Requirement for each can be found at
CPSA.org, but the basic differences are;
International Exhibition
1.
Artwork
must be 100% colored pencil
2.
Artwork
must be on a manufacturer-prepared
surface
3.
Artwork
must be two-dimensional
Explore This!
1. Artwork can be predominately colored
pencil, but must include non-colored pencil media
2.
Artwork
can be on a manufacturer or artist prepared
surface
3.
Artwork
can be two or three dimensional
Here’s some recent entries:
Wetland’s Grace – This is Colored Pencil on plywood. I allow the woodgrain to
dictate the landscape but applied acrylic gesso to obscure the woodgrain where I
wanted to develop the landing heron.This was an Explore
This! entry. I guess I liked it better than the Judge. It was not juried
into the show. There was fierce competition this year!
Deal With It – This is a portrait of Vera Curnow, founder of the Colored
Pencil Society of America, wearing pixilated sunglasses. Of course, the
pixilated sunglasses are making an interesting comeback today. They were the
original memes developed, in the pre-emoticon era, expressing a cool way to ‘Deal
with it’.
Thanks, Vera, for being such a good sport!
This entry was accepted
in the 2022 ExploreThis! 18 exhibition and won the Legion Paper Award
for Exceptional Merit.
Gary Gilmores Eyes – This was a quick sketch to test the range of colored pencil values on Yupo paper. This surface is similar to using polyester drafting film such as Duralar, but even the transparent sheet is too dense to manipulate both sides. Nevertheless, the Yupo surface allows a deep pigment and full value range.
Dexter – A gift for a dear friend, done on drafting film. The challenge
here was trying to apply color and dimension to a primarily black and white
dog.
My Girlfriend – This is actually my wife, Kim. (Yep, she’s still my girlfriend.)
Another piece on drafting film, drawn as much with an eraser as pigment. I call
this method, “Drawing with the Wrong Side of the Pencil”.
Palm Ball – Again, double-sided drafting film. I love this surface! Painting
the blue sky on the back and palm fronds on front allows for crisp edges against
the perspective of a hazy atmospheric background.
Mirrored Soul - An idea, or theme, where I want to allow the viewer a peek at
how the subject might see themselves. A perfectly healthy girl might see herself
as ‘too fat’ in the mirror, a beauty can only see the flaws that make her feel
ugly, or in this example, a transgendered young man who identifies as a woman. Although
the composition is lacking in this example, I think the idea is still valid.
Man in the Garden – This was a fun piece with Inktense on dark UArt sanded paper. Looking
at it again I see where it could use some additional development, but it’s
still fun to watch the viewer’s expression change when they suddenly see a face
appear from the foliage.
Ride’n the “L” – This piece is one of my personal favorites. This is traditional
colored pencil on bristol paper. It fascinates me that there’s more of a story
in the reflections then could be captured if the eye was turned 180° in this
setting. I definitely want to create more artwork using reflective light and
imagery in this way.
Chapel in the
woods - An attempt to use colored pencil on canvas.
It’s a small pedestrian work but a successful experiment. Several layers of
gesso were added and sanded in an attempt to smooth the surface, but it was still
a challenge to get the amount of detail a colored pencil artist desires. I will
try this again utilizing OMS or watercolor pencils to get better coverage.
Marshlands Wet – Colored Pencil on plywood. I allowed the grain of the plywood
to dictate the landscape in this conceptual work. It’s not my favorite but was
unique enough to be accepted in the Explore This! exhibition several years ago.
Mortimer – Inktense on darkUArt sanded paper. Mortimer is a talking Halloween
statue. The kids and I also learned Mortimer enjoyed April Fool’s Day. You can
imagine a yelp or a stutter-step when silently confronted by this creep in the
stairwell or when your victim realizes he’s standing in a dark corner of the
bathroom. The victim was usually Mom, and she still won’t tell us where she’s
hid him from us.