Member Suggestion: Free e-book from Artist Daily

This little 9 page e-book is worth printing out for the drawings alone: download here.
Betty Lehnus
CPSA Ch.219 President
(you may need to sign-in or create an account with Artist Daily to download).

DEMO: New Video from PanPastel

New Video from PanPastel with Deborah Secor
Panpastel recently filmed a new video with Deborah Secor. Deborah paints a vibrant New Mexico landscape with PanPastel on Pastelmat paper. Deborah teaches in a very approachable and inspirational manner. The free video is available on PanPastel.com at the end of October.


*Link shared with us by Betty Lehnus, Thanks Betty!

MEETING 10/24/09: Working on Black Paper

SATURDAY, 12:00pm to 3:00 pm,
Room 5, BEAR CANYON SR. CNTR. (directions below).

Hello CPSA Chapter 219 members! Are you ready to another fabulous colored pencil meeting & program? Joan Catacosinos will be joining us to advise us on the technique of working with colored pencil on black. Chapter member Barbara Nahler will be assisting Joan in the presentation. Bring some of your pencils for practice and experimentation, a variety of black paper will be provided. Also, if you have some, bring WHITE WATERCOLOR or GOUACHE for another variation of the technique. Mark your calendars now and we hope to see you all there!



DIRECTIONS:
From Eubank and Montgomery: Go NORTH on Eubank to first street on right (Lagrima de Oro).
Turn EAST (right, toward the Sandias).
Watch for BROWN SIGN (SeniorCenter) Turn Left on PITT ST.
Enter parking lot on your LEFT.

Member Suggestion: American Artist Download

Member Betty Lehnus has found another great internet gem for us, a three page pdf from the American Artist website. The document is titled "Faster, Richer Effects with Colored Pencil" and can be downloaded here.

MEETING 4/25/09 Yupo Process

Hello everyone!
We had a fabulous meeting on Saturday - and we have images of the event to share.
Chapter Member Betty Lehnus did a demonstration of the watercolor pencil & Yupo paper technique - what fun!
She also brought enough samples for everyone to experiment with - we all got to draw, play, and share the process as a group. Please see the images below for an overview of the supplies and process, examples of Betty's finished works and contact Betty for an questions you might have. :)



Don't forget you can click on the images for a larger view.

MEETING 3/28/09: Color Theory & Colored Pencils

Our meeting for this month brought members Ben & Lee Nurry in to present and demonstrate several experiments in color theory using specific colors (Yellow, Blue, & Magenta) to achieve some dramatic effects such as Mixing colors on the color wheel and mixing colors for shading (using compliments). Lee & Ben came prepared with some great handouts for everyone to experiment with. The extra hour really helped out too - plenty of time to play and talk!

First we started to create our own color wheels, using the blue, magenta and yellow to mix secondary colors (and tertiary, if we had time!). I highly recommend this for everyone that loves working in colored pencils, as it gives you a real understanding of how to layer and mix your colors while working on your paintings. It can be a tedious exercise, but as you work through it, you develop a method that works for you and your individual style and will quickly become second nature in your creative process.

We also worked at creating new colors using only the three primaries with a simple punched paper technique to help us really focus in on the target color (Brown in the example).

Finally, discussed the best ways to achieve shading without using blacks or grays - which is to say, using complimentary colors. As an example, Ben provided us with a still life reference of oranges and encouraged us to recreate one of the oranges using just an orange pencil, and it's compliment, blue. I confess, I used the orange pencil and all three primaries - Magenta, Yellow & Blue - along with a little white to complete my experiment (pictured).





On a side note, back in college, I took a color theory class and my instructor, Edie Fisner, went on to publish a book on her course. Thanks to her I got some great 'basic training' when I was first starting to use colored pencil to complete my various works - it gave me a great foundation for future projects, and I realize now, just how much I've taken it for granted. Edie used student work to illustrate many concepts in her book - and two pieces from my class work were included, which were executed in colored pencil.

Online Critique

One more article, a critique of an colored pencil drawing: A Shining Example. Enjoy!

MEETING: Nicholas Ng

Nicholas was kind enough to demonstrate his technique of colored pencil blending using many layers and rubbing with cotton. Thanks you Micholas - although many of us doubt we have your patience!

Nicholas displays samples of his work and them shows us how he starts very lightly with the pencil, then rubs with the cottom.

Sharpening pencils with a razor saves color! Barbara Nahler tests out Nichlas' method.