Pencil Case – a fitting home for my new pencils

 

New Pencil Box, Just waiting for more pencils

 

Here is the new pencil box I made over the Easter break.  As I said in my previous post, I went a little crazy and bought more colour pencils.  I already had the large set of prismacolor pencils and I bought the extra 18 pencils that they brought out a while ago.  Then I went mad and bought the large set of Caran d’Arche Luminance pencils, so I now have to house 214 coloured pencils and I wanted them all in one place.  The only answer is build my own pencil case.

I had been considering my options and had thought of trays of colours in a box, like my tin for the prismacolors, but I found that the trays were messy to spread out.  I wanted to see all my colours in one glorious array.  So I went back to how the old Derwents were packaged in the staggered, folding box.  The prized box of 72 Derwents, my heart desire as a child, I never did get them in one box, I saved my pocket money and bought them one at a time until I had the full set, but never got the box purchasing them that way.  Clearly I am making up for a traumatised childhood!

Stage 1 – Dividers

Stage 2 – Putting the dividers together

I  needed three boxes though and ended up with the capacity for 240 pencils, enough to allow for extras.  I made them out of four rows of twenty pencils with four compartments of five pencils in each row.  I made the rows and glued them together, each one offset by 4cm.  Four of these made up my three boxes.  I then made an outside box to stick them into and then covered them in bookbinding cloth with side bits that would wrap around each other so the became a box and I could store them and most of all take them with me.  For extra trickiness I cut little hatches in the back where there was a gap so I had a place to keep extras like sharpeners, pencil rubbers etc.

Stage 3 – Dividers into the folding boxes

I am really happy with the results, it is a bit stiff and doesn’t roll up completely square, but some of this will work out with use as it softens up.  The fact that it stands solidly on its own, means that I have all the colours in front of me which is handy.  I made little colour charts for behind the pencils, as I like them to go back into the same place.

Folded up

I am just waiting now for the Luminance pencils to arrive from England and I can complete it.  You may still get an update on it as I haven’t completed the closures and I will need a new colour chart to include the new pencils and perhaps some decoration on the outside.

Time to play some more with the contents.

Karen

New Pencil Box, Just waiting for more pencils

Easter Drawing (Better late than Never)

Hope everyone had a happy Easter, I had a lovely one and in fact I am still enjoying my Easter break. We have another public holiday on Friday so I am having the whole week off. Yah, loads of time for art.

In fact I have been playing with my new art supplies, and getting ready for even more! Yes I went a little wild before Easter, feeling a little down so engaged in some retail, art supply therapy, nothing better.

I finally got around to buying the new prismacolor colours, so even more now and then I bought some spray inks to play with. I haven’t got too far with them, I find the spray a bit intimidating, where is the control!! (I really need to loosen up and let go).

But my biggest extravagance was the Caran d’Arche pencils. I have been lusting after these for years and finally found them on a British website for $100s less than I can get them here. (Australia is one of the most expensive counties).

So I now have 214 coloured pencils and they needed a home fit for the lot of them. So I have been making a new pencil box to house them in style and full display all Easter. I will post it later this week, it is still not yet finished.

To keep the journal going I did a quick Easter drawing of eggs, while munching on some of my bounty. I wanted to do so something soft and pretty, that was a mass of colour. I am not usually that good a pretty, but I think these get close.

Karen

flowers and pattern – and bravery

Sturt Desert Pea cut out on the pattern.

I have completed the second stage of my new work and I am quietly confident that the concept may work.  It was funny, I was nervous and procrastinated before I began the second step of drawing, the sturt desert peas to go over the pattern, even though they were on a separate piece of paper and did not affect the background pattern.  I was wondering why I was so hesitant and finally realised that by not doing it, it still remained a possibility in my head.  If I did it and it did not work the possibility was gone and a long cherished of idea would have to be scraped.  Of course by not doing it, the idea was also never going to get a chance of fruition.

Drawing the Peas 1

This of course was not an acceptable state of affairs, I am usually fairly fearless and will leap into new things (wisely or not), the second realisation was that I was tired, the chronic fatigue is worse this year as I pressed myself too hard last year).  It is interesting sometimes when you figure out what the issues are and have a good look at them, they don’t seem so important, so away I went.

Having had this moment of moderate bravery, I took an immensely brave step and approached my first gallery, to see if they would represent my work.  I have been meaning to do this for the last year or two, but for all the same reasons as above had not been confident enough to take that step.  What if my work was not good, enough, commercial enough etc, etc, etc……..  Would my dream of being a professional artist be only that, a dream.  Nothing new or something every artist goes through, but a huge barrier I had to overcome.  But with the lovely feedback about my work I have received on this blog to encourage me, I did it.  And… they like my work and want to meet me to see my portfolio with the intent of representing me!  Many happy dances around the room.

Drawing the Peas 2

So one of the main objectives of starting this blog may just come to fruition.  Thank you to all my followers, who have taken the time to comment and give me feedback on my work, know that you have made a difference and given me the confidence to take this big step forward in my artistic career.

Rough layout in Photoshop for project

Back to drawing at hand, I am now going to do some black and white flowers to put in the middle distance, just to give more depth and variety.  I did a some rough cutting and pasting in photo shop to see how it would look and was pleased with the idea, so on to stage 3 for this project.

Karen

 

 

 

 

Seasons of Colour – April

Autumn Red – Watercolour pencils and ink

Here is my contribution for April.  The ornamental grape-vine that shades the my house from the hot north sun, is starting to turn.  It is not cold yet and only a few of the leaves turned bright red, the rest are more of a russet-brown.  We will need a frost to really get the colours to brighten up.

I like the way the grape-vine twines around itself and the grey trunk contrast with the bright red leaves,  I have tried to convey the texture of the rough trunk and the smooth leaves, the pattern around it almost give it a medieval feel and the tones are the quintessential autumn colours.  Not sure if it needs more work, but as these are supposed to be quick works and  have already spent half a day on it, I think I will leave it there.

I took a few photos of the sun shiny through the leaves and as one turned out quite well I will share it with you, just realise that I make no claims at being a photographer.  These are happy snaps with my iPad.

Karen