Friday, October 23, 2009

Indian Corn

I painted this last autumn in colored pencils. The photo does not do it justice, but I think you can see the essence of the piece.

Often when using colored pencils I use colored pastel paper. In this piece I used burgundy paper. Jack Whitlow, my friend and drawing teacher taught me this. He says the colored paper helps you keep a mid value to work against. As a color painter I cannot appreciate this concept as much as I should. But I see how the color of the paper underlies the drawing and keeps it together. The paper is mostly covered by the colored pencils but it still is the basis of all color coordination for the finished drawing.

This is something I'm growing to appreciate more as my paintings evolve. It is something I'm also learning in my watercolors without the assistance of "colored" paper. The colors in my backgrounds relate to the colors in my foregrounds often with soft edges blending the two together. This pulls the painting together rather than having separations between items in the painting.

If you notice I've referred to my colored pencil drawing as a painting. This is something that is rather new, but something that I have felt strongly about before. There are many opinions on whether colored pencil pictures are called drawings or paintings. I think it has to do with the picture itself. There is so much blending in this piece that I feel it is more of a painting.

Enjoy the autumn

4 comments:

Beth Fox said...

I agree about the growing opinion that colored pencil can be call "paintings" - especially when they are rendered full strength with much blending of the pigment. You are applying pigment to paper, why would that not be "painting"?! Love the Indian Corn - I'm about to do one myself.

Kathy Staicer said...

Thanks Beth. But you are not applying it with a paint brush! I guess it depends on where the line is drawn. I think it is a matter of many opinions. I'll see you on Tuesday.

Meera Rao said...

Quite often I too use colored paper to do my 'color pencil paintings' - its fun to figure out which 'color' paper to pick. Burgundy works well with the colorful Indian corn! I read that its work on paper that makes it a drawing -- for many even watercolors and pastels do not constitute as 'real' paintings :(

Kathy Staicer said...

Thanks Meera.It is fun choosing the right color. If I'm using a photo reference I just hold it next to the different colors and when I find the correct one I just know it.