December | 2013 | Pencil Portfolio

A friend from high school visited recently from Sydney and we spent a lovely day drawing together and catching up on our art adventures. Alissa has been sketching nearly every day over the past five years and has filled over 35 watercolour Moleskine sketchbooks. What an impressive collection! She works primarily with her favourite L’Amy Joy pen and Faber Castell and Derwent watercolour pencils. You can visit her blog site here

We have completely different styles but I so admire the looseness, immediacy and freshness in her drawings, whereas it takes me so long to complete something! Her motivation inspires me. It was wonderful to share art ideas and to just talk to someone about “papers and pencils”. The day brought back fond memories of our drawing sessions after school and on weekends.

Alissa drew one of my Eiffel Tower souvenirs and a box of my Prismacolor pencils…

I was working on a still life piece, a bowl of red chillies…still a long way to go…

There’s probably no better way to pass the day than drawing with a friend and also eating, drinking coffee and sipping wine…

I had seen some pencil works online done on drafting film and was intrigued to learn more and try my hand at it. Drafting film is a smooth, semi-transparent, polyester support which allows for the appearance of rich, luminous colour. It is not without its challenges though – the film only accepts a few layers of colour and it is more difficult to blend. Oil based pencils tend to adhere best to the surface so I purchased a set of Faber-Castell Polychromos. One of my workmates brought some beautiful dahlias to work one day – they were a lovely lemon colour tinged with pink on the edges. I knew I had to photograph and draw one!

Below are works in progress of “Dahlia Delight” – my first attempt on drafting film. I have a tendency to work from left to right to avoid smudging the colours.

10.5″ x 7″
Faber-Castell Polychromos on Drafting Film

I was thrilled to have this piece published in the showcase section of Ann Kullberg’s CP Magazine (November 2013 issue). Ann has a great website packed full of information on all things coloured pencil – tips, techniques, a monthly magazine, tutorial kits, books, and she features some amazing artwork.

I also entered this drawing into a local flowers and gardens exhibition in September. It didn’t sell but I can enjoy having it around just a little bit longer!