Frustration

Some days weeks. I swear.

I know you're not supposed to let people see you sweat, but I thought in this case I'd let you see, just a little, of the frustration that sometimes goes with colored pencils.

I started this piece with Prismacolors, and this is what happened. Lots of broken leads. Lots and lots and lots. More than this, actually. I know there's been talk on various boards and groups about the quality of these going downhill recently, and now I believe it. I've been a Prismacolor user since art school days, and never, until this most recent batch, have I had this kind of a problem with them.

I've been using an Xacto School Pro electric sharpener, and also a hand held one. The leads broke in both. I finally couldn't stand it anymore, and ripped up the original version of this art I had been working on, and packed up my Prismas and put them back in the drawer. I actually developed a knot in my back from the stress of trying to make these things behave!

Then I got out my Lyra Rembrandt Polycolors, and started over. Bliss.

I'm working on trying to get a stronger look for some of my work, with more saturated color.

That involves some layering and burnishing. As I go, I make notes about what I'm doing so I can keep track, and get the same colors throughout the piece. Kind of like following a recipe.

Not very scientific, but it works. You can see how I scribble a note usually with whatever pencil I happen to have in my hand at the time. I'm finding that a lot of the time I can get the same result with fewer layers, but it takes me a few tries to get there. 

You can see here how the cat on the right isn't fully developed yet. The finished cats on the corners, and the one in the middle, have different color combinations (for the cat itself, not the outlines), but they ended up being almost exactly the same color. The 'sideways' cat has True Blue in the recipe, but that was sort of cancelled out by the Olive Green I put later I think. Its fun to experiment and see what happens with colors. They don't always do what you think they will, especially when you burnish!

I'm working on other things too. The weather is finally starting to turn just a hair cooler, and my sanity is returning. Yay!

Summer Pops, another Un-Still Life

Summer Pops, © Paula Pertile

8 x 10, colored pencils on paper

This one is less un-still than the others, but since they're all floating or levitating, or in mid-flight upwards, I figure its still 'un-still'. We'll call this one Quietly UnStill (should un-still be hyphenated, or not? grammar gurus?).

These are obviously Tootsie Pops. But I did them just a little bit abstract rather than hyper realistic. I can do hyper real, and have in the past, but when I had these transferred to the paper to start on them I just couldn't make myself do it. In fact, I almost left them as a flat pattern, with shadows, which looked kind of cool, but then decided to render some form after all. Maybe I'll play with that idea in future pieces, since I see these going in a more conceptual direction.

I'm also getting more wary of doing super real interpretations of product logos - it can get you into trouble (unless the company has hired you to do the art). Even Andy had some trouble with his soup cans. So if you look closely, nowhere on these can you actually see the Tootsie Pop logo, really. Aaaaalmost, but not quite. I also took out some of the fussier small type. (OK, I confess that I just didn't want to do all that type, there was no higher motivation at work.)

So anyways. There it is.

I have to switch over to some other kinds of work for a bit now.

(The originals of all these new pieces are in my etsy shop. 

And prints are available at FineArtAmerica, if you're interested.)