You can lead a horse to water...

...but you can't be artistic if you're just not in the mood! . As I found out yesterday! . Ok let me put a bit of background into this - The MECs are next weekend, the MECs (Model Equine Championships) are the annual finals for the year's showing here in the UK, a model has to qualify to enter, very similar to NAN realy, but on a smaller scale. This year, I've sponsored a ring (the AR ring, yey!) and have some plans for awards and a surprise class or two, so I've been working on making the prize models (which I'm keeping secret until the show). On top of this I'm working on another (secret) sculpting project and trying to give a bit more time towards my recent drawing obsession. . Well, yesterday was a bad day; it started with a disagreement with colleagues, an upset friend and a computer that wanted to take an AGE doing anything (it's doing the same today, so I'm blogging while I wait for it to catch up), continuing when I got home and opened the post to find I'd underpaid a recent bill, resulting in a charge and another letter that appeared very threatening (turned out it was just "protocal" and was meaningless), and finally ended when, after looking to Adam to cheer me up and finding he'd also had a bad day we did't speak for abut an hour. I fixed that up by making some home-made coleslaw (with cottage cheese, lettuce, raisins and sunflower seeds - aka whatever needed eating up) which definitely broke the ice between us, and was amazingly quite nice (VERY odd for my cooking!). . Which brings me back to the point of this blog - after dinner last night I had a spare hour or so, and wanted to make the most of it as I rarely get that opportunity. So I sat there, and for the entire hour I fretted about "I need to do something" but I just couldn't get myself inspired enough to work on anything! . This is the first time I've found myself unable to bring myself to be creative - I've had a block before where I don't know how to progress, but never a complete lack of inspiration or inclination to approach any of my projects! It came as quite a shock to my system, but it did show me that a) my life is normally good, good enough to keep me constantly inspired, and b) yesterday WAS stressful, however unreasonable I felt about being a grumble guts. Oh, and c) my cooking tastes better if I crash about the kitchen in a foul mood when making it, hehe! . There's no more point than that to this blog, I was just so shocked at not being able to be creative, that I felt the urge to blog about it.

A world full of colour

Colour: it's a whole new world! Perhaps because I've been concentrating so hard on sculpting this past few years, now that I've rediscovered colour I just can't stop myself! . Now, I'm not going to allow myself to get into colour-theory, I have enough to study with the horses! But, I do want to know what effects all my new (and old) pencils will give me, so, inspired by a fellow blogger I decided to make up some little colour charts to use as reference when I need to decide what medium to use for a drawing. I only got the following done in the whole evening I spent working on them, but am pretty pleased with the outcome. I tested the pencils on the little A6 sketchpad that came in my previous post, and the pens were tested on A5 Bristol Board, as that is what I'll be doing any pen drawings on. . First up, the Graphitint pencils. This photo was taken under artificial light indoors as it was night time, but although the flash has reflected on the dry squares, the colours show well on the water-brushed samples. The top row is of squares just coloured using the pencils, the second row has a drop of water added but not aggitated (to see if just adding water has an effect) and the third row was washed/dragged with the waterpen that also came in the new kit (fantastic little brush, self-cleaning too!), the image has rotated, blog sometimes does this and I can't fix it, sorry. This is the same page a few hours later, when the bead of water had evaporated. The camera's flash washed out the depth of colour in this image, but as an acutal reference sheet it should be quite handy, especially being so small (A6).

The following sheet was to compare some of the pen sets I have - I LOVE pens, I don't know why but the simplicity and straightforwardness of the colour has always fascinated me. These are just some pen sets I had hanging around, I thought I'd compare them. The result of this - I want more of those Letraset type markers!! As you can see I "shaded" each square by frist drawing horizontal stripes in each box, then allowing to dry; then I drew vertical lines halfway along each box crossing the first layer, allowed to dry, then horizontal lines again halfway down each box, filing the gaps on a single layer; and finally I coloured in the top-left corner for a multi-layer shade. This gave me effectively 4 shades from each pen. With the Letraset pens I also coloured a full box as they have a broad tip too, I just love how they blend into a smooth colour!

More pens - this time a little more serious - this sheet shows all 48 colours of the Faber Castell PITT pens, shaded as above and labelled with the number and name of each colour. Previously I've only been concerned with the numbers on each pen, but knowing the names actually helps when choosing colours. For instance, there is Dark Phthalo Green and Light Phthalo Green - I may not have seen that these were shades of the same colour without seeing the name there. I made a mistake on the Pink Madder Lake/Magenta, but will cut out a fresh piece of board and stick it over the top, this chart took me so long to do I don't fancy starting over! I've also noted the three colours that I have in the fineliner pens too, as a quick-reference as to which shade they match up with (ok black's quite an easy one, but Sanguine could be mistaken for Terracotta or Indian Red). ...and finally (for now :o), here is the brief chart for the Derwent Tinted Charcoal. I'd quite like to make up a chart overlaying each colour on top of the others, and might do that if I get a chance, but for now I at least know what each colour looks like on paper. I gave this, and the Graphitint page a couple of coated of fixative to make sure they stay true and don't smudge everywhere! The pages on the A6 pad are perforated, so I may detach these charts and keep them filed together with the larger pen ones somewhere when I have more done.

Following another expensive day, I now have a set of 24 Derwent Inktense pencils on their way to me, which I will definitely be making a chart up for. The interesting thing I've heard about these is that you can only wash over them once - makes me think of acrylics and how you can paint with them using water but once dry they are waterproof. I don't even know where to start on a chart for them!! I've not yet made up a chart for my set of 24 Derwent Soft Drawing pencils, a few other small sets of pens and pencils or my posh 21st birthday 120 set of Derwent Artists pencils - they may take a little while to complete!

All these colours... and all these ways to use them - this is so much fun!!!

More Distractions...

My enthusiasm for the more two-dimensional artwork has taken over reently; whilst visiting Adam's parents last week I took the opportunity of making a little sketch of Sox, their Border Collie dog. He managed to stay in this position just long enough for me to get a quick sketch!

I gave that sketch to Adam's Mom, she really liked it. She said she'd like a nice portait of him and would I do one for her. Ok, no pressure there then, hehe - I TOTALLY fancied the challenge so got sketching some more; this pencil drawing was done from a photograph and gave me the confidence I needed to take on a full portrait.

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And here is the portrat so far, it's unfinished but not far off now. This is a coloured pencil drawing using a combination of Derwent Artist's pencils, Watercolour pencils and Drawing (soft) pencils on Daler Rowney Ingres 12"x9" Pastel (160g/m 98lb) card in dark brown.

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I've paid for diving in with little research and being so ill-prepared! With this being my first attempt at such a drawing I didn't realise that the heavy grain in the paper makes it difficult to make really dark areas bold - the grain shows through. So, for instance on the very dark area on the dog's left cheek, no matter how many times I'd go over it with a dark pencil, the brown grain of the paper shows through. I've since discovered that the reverse-side of the paper is smooth (doh!) but I think for my next one I might lay down a watercolour wash before I start.0

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I'm quite pleased with the actual portraiture of this drawing, it does look like Sox the dog, but I really feel that there is much more to discover with this relatively new medium, and yes, I managed to get a nice big smudge on the paper! I'm hoping to be able to erase it, but if that doesn't work I will shade the background with soft pastels, I had originally planned to but decided against it as the drawing developed.

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I have had SO much fun with this portrait, I've searched the internet to observe the styles of other artists and I've discovered that there are a multitude of different types of coloured pencil too - I have been using a box of 120 Derwent Artist's pencils that I received from my family for my 21st birthday, and a few other pencils from my school days. I've not really drawn very much since then, being distracted with modifying cars (I was dating a mechanic at the time, hehe) and sculpting in recent years, and I've never used water soluble pencils in the way they are designed for. There are all these new types of pencils out there, so....

...I bought a few to try out!

Now, I have to point out here - eBay is my best friend lately! Prices are good, especially if you live in the US as the prices seem to be WAY below those in the UK. First up, a set of Derwent's tinted charcoal. These pencils got me curious, and as I was struggling to show the varying tones in Sox's black and white coat, I thought they'd be worth a try out.

Second, and this was an absolute bargain from eBay for a whopping £1.46! This is a brand new and unused (was still packaged) Derwent Sketching Folio which is a zip-up, 2-compartment case containing all these:

• 12 Graphitint Pencils (another Derwent product that got me curious, more about those in a moment)
• 3 Watersoluble Sketching Pencils (no idea what to do with those yet)
• 2 Charcoal Pencils (light/dark - should work well with my new tinted charcoal set!)
• 1 Derwent Hardback A6 Sketchbook
• 1 Waterbrush (these alone cost near £5 in HobbyCraft!)
• 1 Palette
• 1 Plastic Pencil sharpener (won't be using this as I have my trusty Faber Castel one now :o)
• 1 Plastic Eraser (will apprach this with caution, the firmer erasers can ruin a drawing rather than improve it!)

So, quite a good buy I reckon. Now, here's the case, I don't think it's real leather but it looks pretty nice, it's a good size for travel and is padded and stiff so should protect the contents well. It also has the logo on, which although a minor thing, will be invaluable for me when I come to look for this later on, as we have so many CD holders that look similar (Adam is in I.T.), it'd be easy to lose in our house!

This is the first section, which contains the Graphitint Pencils and the A6 pad - the pad has a pocket to tuck into, so it's not loose and it won't fall out when unzipping the case. Also in this section is one of the Sketching Pencils, labelled "light wash".

Graphitint pencils are bizarre, they are in subtle, dark shades but when you add water they become much more vibrant. I'm looking forward to having a play with these; I was drawn to their subtle shades but feel the need to add water and see what happens!

This is the second section; it has the other two Sketching Pencils, predictable labelled "Medium Wash" and "Dark Wash"; and a Dark and a Light charcoal. It also has the waterbrush, which is basically a hollow tube that you fill with water that then feeds into the brush part. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works with the water soluble pencils! Sharpener and eraser, they look pretty basic, and the palette is also basic made from what appears to be vacuum formed plastic (quite think though).

All very neat and tidy! I especially like this little feature (what can I say, it's the small things that intrigue me!); at the ends of the zips, there are two press-studs to keep the zip pulls from flapping about, how neat!!

It's only by accident that most of the materials I've bought recently are made by Derwent. I try to balance value with quality, and unless I decide to go professional with my hobby (oh, to dream...), then I will be sticking with this level of product. I always keep my eye on the Faber Castell and Caran D'Ache pencils etc, but they, for now, are beyond my budget. All things considered though, I have to say how impressed I am with the range that Derwent offers. I now have a sample of each of these types, and will report back when I've done some more playing!!

• standard (graphic) drawing pencils
• Fine Art coloured pencils
• Watercolour pencils
• Soft Drawing pencils (in roll-wrap - very handy!)
• Tinted charcoal
• Standard Charcoal
• Water Soluble Pencils
• Graphitint

I have my eye on a set of their Inktense pencils too but I think I will stop then - they have plenty more variations on the simple coloured pencil should I get bored too!

(apologies for the random typefaces in this posting, I haven't quite got the hang of this blogger yet [still], and for being so nerdy about pencil crayons!)