The Art of Color Pencils

Green Tara
Framed original available for sale
margaretjoyceart.com

Working with color pencils has been a passion for me
for many years.  I started sometime in the '80's with taking a community education evening class at the local Jr. High.  My first piece was quite small, about 4"x4", and was executed on very poor quality paper.  It was a still-life of a bunch of radishes and although it was not great,  it did inspire me and set me on my way.

In the beginning, I experimented with many different brands of color pencils and different types of paper as well.  A good quality acid free paper  is essential to the successful outcome of a piece.  Also, learning about the colorfastness of certain colors was very important too.  You don't want to spend hours on a piece and then watch it fade away before your eyes in a couple of years!  Eventually I settled into using Prismacolor pencils almost exclusively.  As they are really a colored wax set in a wooden barrel, they are easy to use and have a smoothness that I like.  They blend well.

It is possible to get an amazing variety of effects with colored pencils.  The finished pieces are no longer drawings at all but "paintings" covering the whole surface from corner to corner.

American Paint Turtle
in private collection

One of my "discoveries" was that I loved to work on a surface that was already colored.  The Green Tara pictured above is actually done on a piece of jet black museum board.  The black that you see (her hair) is actually the paper.  The black underneath creates a depth of color and tones down the brilliance of some of the colors.  The piece is actually a mix-medium as I also used a metallic gold watercolor on her aura and some of the details on her attire.  The tips of the  flower buds are touched with a bit of white acrylic because I couldn't get the pure white with colored pencil over black paper.  However, her shirt is all white pencil that was heavily burnished.

The American Paint Turtle piece was done on a piece of green acid free matt board. He is one of three pieces that were a commission.  Each one was done on a colored paper.  The Frog was done on black.

Iguana
in private collection

Frog
In private collection

Travis with Grandpa Vic playing Uncle Wiggly
in private collection

My subject matter has always been all over the place.  Landscapes, portraits, animals, still-life, I pretty much created pieces based on whatever attracted my attention and inspired me.  This picture of my son, Travis playing Uncle Wiggly with his Grandpa is one of my all time favorites.  (Note the Darth Vader Tee) .  This piece is now owned by my son, I gave it to him on his 30th birthday.

Joining the Color Pencil Society of America, CPSA, allowed me to participate in some lovely art shows featuring color pencil work.  Twice I was juried into, and shown in, International Color Pencil shows, a landscape of Lake Powell, Utah in one, and a portrait of my Grandmother in the other.  My work has been featured in two "Best of Color Pencil" books, volumes #2 and #4.

It is interesting to look back at a body of work and see the shifts as the artist evolves, or to be able to see the life experiences that are reflected in the work.  For me, my spiritual life has become a major component to my pieces.  I truly believe that the state of consciousness and your intent will affect the final outcome of your art and that art will be "imbued" or carry that energy to whoever is in contact with it.  Think about the sand paintings of the Hopi or the huge mandalas created by Tibetan monks.  Both are created with intention and prayer having a great impact on the viewer.  For the last few years my goal has been to infuse that same type of intention and prayer into my work no matter what medium I am using, felting, eggs, pencil....sound.

Through the years my pieces have gotten larger and larger.  No more 4" x 4" little pieces anymore!  Oh No! I worked on big pieces that took months to complete.  The consequence  of holding that pencil for hours on end was, unfortunately, a repetitive stress injury to the joint at the base of my right hand thumb.  Because of this, I have not done a major color pencil piece for over 5 years.  

Lately, my hand has felt pretty normal and I am thinking that I will get back at it.  There will definitely have to be an adjustment though, like using a ergonomic pencil holder so that I am not holding the pencil so tightly.  Wish me luck!  

The majority of my work has sold (or been gifted) and gone off to private collections.  I do, however, have originals that are for sale and also prints and a line of cards created from my images. Available at  margaretjoyceart.com

Fellow artists...please be aware of the safety of your supplies and the toll of repetitive movements on your body

Blessings,

Margaret