New Art

This one was created with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, not my usual Prismacolor. The good thing is that these pencils are really, really soft and blend together easily. The bad thing is that in just a few layers it becomes impossible to add more color. The next stroke tries to lift off what’s already on the surface. This is not such a big deal with lighter colors, but getting good darks with Derwent on canvas (at least on a digital one that was used for this piece) turned into a challenge. The solution: use a softest graphite pencil you have. Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth 7B worked quite well for me.

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

Most of this one was done with an artificial light, and today I was going to put finishing touches on it while we were at the Pescadero Beach. But the sunlight showed me that more than just that was needed. Good thing that the weather was very warm and without strong winds, or the miniature would travel back home to be finished there. I must say though that colored pencils start to lay on the canvas in a funny way as humidity goes up. I think if I was working with water soluble ones, I would end up with a painting without adding water.

Finally, a miniature on a digital canvas that was not a struggle:

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

I noticed that colors almost do not smear at all on this type of canvas and put dark branches first, then moved to the clouds. It worked – branches stayed dark, clouds stayed clean, no mess at all. And it probably helped that I used harder Derwent pencils for the branches and my usual Prismacolor ones for the rest.

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

That’s the pleasant part, always good to finish even a little piece. Now, the unpleasant one: this miniature, like the previous two, was done on a digital canvas, and apparently it has a shorter patience with multiple layers of color than a traditional canvas does. In the process of “thinking” about earth colors right on the canvas I found out that I better make up my mind quicker, or the color will start to chip off. It didn’t really come to chipping off, but from my previous experience with paper I know the feeling that the pencil gives you right before the surface gives up. That’s a little disappointing, or maybe it’s a good opportunity to learn how to be more decisive.

That’s right, this little piece went with me over half of the globe and back. I had big drawing plans while visiting with my family and friends in Russia, and as it usually happens very little of it got accomplished. In fact, this is the only thing I managed to finish in 3 weeks, all done either in flight or in airports. Yay for working small.

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

As much as I enjoy the gessoed canvas, it has one serious problem when it comes to colored pencils: the unsupported area inside the mini stretcher bars. I found two workarounds: working with a very sharp point that does not require much pressure and keeping a finger against the back of the canvas when I need to burnish. Unfortunately, burnishing does not happen without pressure.

Slava suggested to try a digital canvas on a piece of wood. We had a few samples left from the time when he was in the process of finding the best canvas for his photography, and he stretched one for me. The sunset above is my first mini landscape on the new surface. Lessons learned:

– a digital canvas is finer and more dense
– it has more “tooth” (or what should it be called in this case?), and even a slightly dull point will leave white gaps on it
– it is not possible to correct small mistakes with a white pencil on a digital canvas
– all strokes, even those made with a dull point, look harsher on a digital canvas than on a traditional one

It feels like a good surface, I just need to adjust to it.

Fall colors are almost non-existent outside of urban areas here. The best we see when hiking is a few colorful trees or shrubs here and there. The rest is either brown or green that later turns bare. But there is a a nice aspen grove at the edge of the Stevens Creek Park, it actually turns golden in October. It’s a wonderful sight then – glowing trunks and branches against bright yellow foliage. The only thing that can make it better is a backdrop of either blue skies or water.

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

I know that Sunol Park looks pretty impressive in fall too, but for one reason or another we keep missing its autumnal beauty every year.

As it turned out, you can fit quite a lot into 3.5″ x 2.5″, more than I hoped to. If I planned a little more carefully, there would even be more space for the water at the bottom. Instead, I ran with the clouds first and fitted the rest into what little space remained. Morale: even for a tiny piece, start with thumbnails. I would love to do something with cloud reflections.

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

Memories of Utah – pen and ink on Bristol paper, 9″ x 12″

See the progress of this piece here

Talked to my Dad on the phone yesterday – they have snow near Moscow already. We have rain, that’s good too, but snow would be so much better. Even a smell of snow would be wonderful. Since I can’t have that, I thought I would finish a snowy miniature that was lying around for way too long.

At least this is what I was after. Light in the fog can be incredibly beautiful, and colors seem to be more vivid and rich because of it.

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

3.5″ x 2.5″, colored pencil on canvas

I really like working that tiny. The stretched canvas make it easy to draw anywhere, without any support. A canvas and a few pencils fit into my smallest purse, and apparently a grip of a shopping cart is good enough to rest the canvas on when you stand in a long line (Costco has no equivalents of a “3 is a crowd” rule, and sometimes it can be a long wait). Drawing to the rescue.

Following up on my initial idea of trying colored pencils on a canvas, I bought a pack of 5 2.5″ x 3.5″ primed canvases in Aaron Brothers and started with the first canvas the same day. It’s a remarkable thing for me; usually it takes days, if not weeks, to progress from an idea to something material. Here is the result:

It’s doable! And I like the effect that the rough support gives to the drawing. It reminds me of heavy cold pressed watercolor paper. Just like with that paper, canvas is lead hungry. It gobbles up serious amounts of colored pencil in no time at all, and I had to sharpen pencils more often than with most types of paper. On a positive side, a canvas leaves more room for mixing colors. A few things that I didn’t like I was able to scratch off with a fingernail and cover with new layers. No ill effects of doing so; the canvas does not seem to wear out at all.

I still need to get a better grasp of the whole thing, but when i am through this pack of canvases I think I will move to a bigger size. My first ides that never came to fruition was to wrap cold pressed watercolor paper around the stretcher. I even bought the small stretcher, and that was it. Wetting the paper, stretching it, drying it, seeing if drawing on that was plausible, and dealing with a possible fail was too much trouble. I wonder why I didn’t think of the canvas back then.

Speaking of the packs: not a single one in the store had 5 more or less rectangular canvases. A common case was 2-3 arbitrary quadrangles per pack that just look bad, so ordering online is not an option. I do want to continue with these tiny drawings.

On the Racetrack III – 11 3/8″ x 8 3/8″, pen and ink on drawing paper

The third and final part of three drawings inspired by Bay Meadows, a racetrack that, sadly, does not exist anymore. We used to visit it regularly, and it was always a pleasure for us and our kids to spend a day there. Now the long stretch of stands, the smell of the paddock, the turf and the sight of stables and horses everywhere are all gone to yield space to houses and office buildings.