Why Colored Pencils?

“Why colored pencils Ame? Have ya ever tried any other mediums?”


Well, the long and short of it is yes, I’ve tried other mediums...oils, acrylics, watercolor, clay, print-making, pastel, scratch-board, pen & ink and so on. What always happened though is that I’d become frustrated at the difficulty/inability to produce small detail with most of these and would eventually move on to something else (unless, of course, it was needed for a class).

Pen & ink, ebony pencil were my favorite mediums during my school years even though I was knee-deep in all of them for my degree in Graphic Communications/Fine Art. These seemed to give me the detail, sharp edges and high contrast that I used to crave. The subtleties I could elicit from the Ebony pencil really “floated my boat.” - Am I dating myself there???

I was enamored with photo realism back then...still am as it takes a special hand to recreate something to fool the eye in that way. The artistic athleticism involved to perfect one’s mastery of a medium to that degree continues to stun and amaze me every time I see it! And the Ebony pencils, pen & ink, were perfect fits (for me) when attempting this style.

As the years have gone by though, my taste for black and white has given way to more and more color, much like my taste for photo realism has softened a bit. Don’t get me wrong...photo realism rocks...but, although I can thoroughly appreciate the technical expertise involved, just copying a photo of fruit, or flowers, or a street scene, or whatever kinda leaves me bored, especially if fruit is all that artist seems to produce. LOL I’m getting picky...I need a storyline! But you’ll probably still see some fruit or flowers or street scenes coming out of me sometime because these seem to most often win the laurels. I’m hoping to change that up a bit though!

So, I’ve always been DRAWN to pencils for various reasons. Guess it wasn’t a stretch that I’d go for colored pencils next, huh? Maybe as I have to cross my eyes harder to see my drawing board, I’ll get into the “looser” mediums again. And, for the record, I have to blame this “detail gene” on my artistically inclined father who spent much of his work life at a drafting table in various design oriented jobs. Thanks a BUNCH Pops!!!! LOL But really...thanks Pops. :)

Thanks for taking a peek!
~ Amy