Friday 6 February 2009

Aylestone meadows in the snow

Using coloured pencils in mixed media is something I use a lot but using them alone is something I only do very rarely.

This one of Aylestone Meadows in the snow, with icy frozen pools of water is done purely in cp on a buff coloured paper, 11 inches square. The white is a bit lighter than it looks here.

I missed the fluidity of paint - the lovely soft merging of colour that I can then enhance with cp's if I want. It reminded me why I don't very often use them alone!

The hedgerows and trees were silhouetted and the colours muted. I'd moan that it was cold (it was) but nothing like Jeanette's Newfoundland cold!

Yesterday the snow was about a foot deep in the countryside, soft and powdery and beautiful but I was teaching all day.

Today it had thawed a little and of course it's getting dirty and muddy along paths and by the roads and not so pretty any more. Which reminded me why I don't like snow much! I think my ancestors hibernated in the winter :>)

7 comments:

Jeanette Jobson said...

This really gives a sense of the winter light and the cold in this piece. I think you should venture into cp solos more often!

And you know, I was never so cold in my life as I was in winter in England.

Making A Mark said...

That's got a real wintery feel to it - I love the sky!

Have you ever tried brushing over them with Zest-It? It melts the CP and has a similar impact to working with watercolour pencils.

I like working over coloured paper as wll - but tend to find it needs quite bit more effort to get very intense colours..

vivien said...

thanks Jeanette - colder when in England - I wonder if it's because it's a damper cold? or just that we don't normally get it as cold as Newfoundland so simply don't have the appropriate clothes?

Thanks Katherine. I've thought about Zest it - but I'd just rather use paint! I like the lines and overlaying of colour in cp so that isn't a problem to me - it's just very controlled compared with paint.

Yes I agree it is harder to get the intensity - I chose this colour this time because there were no intense colours other than the white - which didn't photograph well, some of it is whiter than shows here. The colour coming through, unites the image, helping with that winter chill but with a little underlying warmth, barely seen.

Lindsay said...

Vivien, no matter what media, I love your style. What a beautiful mood piece.

It's very hard for me to get the intensity and saturation I need from CPS. But yours is lovely

vivien said...

Have you tried polychromos Lindsay? they are very intense and mix beautifully.

Laura Frankstone said...

Very nice, Vivien. I share your feelings about colored pencils---am always amazed at the intensity that Katherine gets in her drawings.

vivien said...

thanks Laura - I hope your muse is back?