Greyhound in coloured pencil

Meet Toby, a much loved greyhound who has sadly passed on. This was a Christmas present to his owner, so it should be safe to post up now.
It was done on Fabrianno Artistico HP using Faber Castell polychromos and measured A3 in size.

Still life in coloured pencils

This is my latest, just completed. I don't usually do still life's, but I enjoyed the challenge. I have titled it 'Red' for obvious reasons, The idea originally was to do 4 pictures, using all white, all blue, all green and this one, not sure that this idea will go forward. My history of following through with series has not been good up till now.

Pencils: Prismacolour

Paper: Fabrianno Artistico 300 HP

Size: Approx. 20" x 9"

Cat on Ampersand pastelbord

Ampersand pastelbord is a new support for me. I was given a small piece to try out, and decided to do this long haired cat just to see how much detailing I could get on it. I found it reasonably easy to use, but could definitely not get the level of detail that I can achieve on paper such as Fabrianno artistico HP. Still, I like the finished painting and might use it again. I found I really needed to keep sharpening the pencils as they became blunt very quickly as the surface is quite rough.

Support: Ampersand pastelbord (mid grey)
Pencils: Faber Castell Polychromos
Size: 7" x 5"

Elephants at the Waterhole

I have just completed this small drawing, using animals taken from various reference photos and using Photoshop combined them into a pleasing composition.
Size: 12.5 x 4.5
Support: Mellotex paper
Pencils: Mechanicals: 3B 3MM and HB 0.5mm and a 6B woody for the darks.

Here are a few stages in it's development, starting with the completed drawing.

Holly the Dalmatian

Holly is a rescue Dalmatian and this is her portrait which I have just taken off the drawing board. She is the second Dalmatian I have done, I think I have done most breeds by now, certainly the more popular ones and I really enjoy the challenge of getting the different breed characteristics down on paper.

Clean Paws - Cat in coloured pencil

Just a small one this time, done for a show I will be doing next year. I wanted to get some smaller stuff together to sell at a reasonable price.

Pencils: Faber Castell Polys
Support: Derwent smooth watercolour paper.
Size: A5

Finished Birch Glade

Finaly got it finished. I will hang it on my wall before deciding if I like it. Still not sure...maybe it will grow on me. I think the sunlight and shadows on the ground has worked well. I think on reflection I might darken the leaves a little, I feel it needs a little more ooomph.

Size 15" x 15"
Pencils: Faber Castell Polycromos and Derwent watersoluble pencils used as an underwash
Support: Cradled prepared MDF

Birch Glade 2

I am now working on building up the tones and colours using dry coloured pencils. I have also made a couple of minor changes to the composition.

This is what the back of the cradled board looks like. I will be adding colour to the sides in due coarse, I haven't quite made up my mind what I will do yet.

Birchwood Glade

I don't usually post WIPs on my blog, but thought that this time I would.

I am really enjoying this particular style I have been doing recently using prepared board, I like the effect of the texture of the finished picture. This is a much faster method for coloured pencils and helps me to remain looser and not get bogged down in the detail.

After transferring my drawing onto the board I do a light colour wash using water soluble pencils as I don't want too much white showing through in the final picture. This is the stage this picture is at, at the moment. 

Next I will start on the dry coloured pencil.

Medium: Coloured pencil

Support: Cradled board

Size: 15"x15"

This picture shows the depth of the supporting frame, just under 2".

Showing the completed under painting using Derwent watersoluble coloured pencils. On the far left I have started to build up the strength of colour with Faber Castell Polychromos dry pencils.

Border Collie in Graphite

This is Tilly who is a very sweet little Border Collie. I dontated a portrait as a prize to a local dog show and this little girl won 'Best in show'. This is her prize.

Graphite pencil on Mellotex paper
Size A4.

Elephants in the Dust

A family of elephant wander across the dusty plains looking for water. 

My second one done on cradled board using Faber Castell coloured pencils. The texture is very obvious in the photo but it looks much better hanging on the wall. It is quite small, measuring 15" x 7". Now that I can buy these cradled  (boxed) boards here in the UK I will probably be doing more of them. I do like the unusual finish that the texture brings to coloured pencils, just something a little different.

Alfie in coloured pencil

Sweet Alfie, a commission I have recently completed. He looks like he was a special chap, now passed over the Rainbow Bridge and is sadly missed by his family.

I have chosen coloured pencil for Alfie and decided to concentrate on him only and keep the background clean, which I think suits him. Sometimes, and I use gut instinct here, I think a pet will look better with a soft coloured background and other times I feel that a clean background serves the purpose better. I don't know what it is that steers me in one direction or the other, but it does seem to work if I just go with the flow.

Size: A4

Medium: Faber Castell Polychromos

Support: Fabrianno Artistico HP

Lovely Willow in pastels

Meet Willow, a very laid back Golden Retriever, well aren't they all? She wasn't bothered that she was supposed to be co-operating for her photo shoot, just lay down or came up to me for a cuddle and a kiss, and wasn't interested in showing her 'best side'. We finally managed to get some interest from her when the treats were brought out and at last I managed to get one or two suitable shots to work from. This is the result.

Medium: pastels, sticks and pencils.

Support: Fisher 400 sanded paper

Size: A3

Dino -Black Cat in Coloured Pencil

This is a commission I have recently completed of Dino, a handsome black cat. As is often the case with black animals the photos were not very clear and as Dino has passed over the Rainbow Bridge, it was not possible to get any more taken, but I am happy with the end result and feel I have done him justice. I particularly like his bright eyes.

Medium: Prismacolour pencils

Support: Clairfontein Pastelmatt

Size: A4

Dartmoor Trees

I was immediately attracted to these lovely trees on Dartmoor, all covered in moss and with their trunks all twisted and gnarled.  It almost looks as if the moss is flowing over the base of the trees and the rocks.

Because I usually get bogged down in the minute detail in a landscape I decided to use a different support which would help me to work a little looser. I got a friend to make me up a box using MDF and some 2"x2" struts on the back for support, rather like a box canvas. I then primed it with lots of coats of Gesso which I sanded down until I got a surface I was happy to work on.

I like the way the texture shows through the pencil marks, and I was not able to draw in every little  detail as I usually do. I am very happy with the results and have already got some ideas for more similar pictures.

Title: Bark and Moss. 

Measures 15" x 15" and I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils.

This is my accepted entry for the 2014 Annual UKCPS exhibition to be held at the RBSA in Birmingham from 28th April to10th May. If you have a chance to visit you will see some amazing coloured pencil art on show.