A very happy Monday morning to the world. It's 4am and I am up as usual drinking coffee and looking forward to continuing my new piece of work. I love colored pencils so much that I get up at 4am so that I can have time for artwork in my day! Truly, I do! Exercise and chores out of the way, I can draw to my hearts content!
And little Yorkie is coming along nicely. I am mainly using Caran D'Ache Luminance for this piece, the unusual colours in their range are perfect for the colours of the fur. And the fur is turning out to eat so many amazing colours! When I look closely at the reference photo I see blues and purples and peaches, really gorgeous. And that unique violet grey colour that Caran D'Ache do that just seems to go into every single picture. And Titanium Buff. I would hate to be without that color. I will have to do a post n favourite colors. Only colored pencil addicts would probably understand it, but some colors are just so exciting!
Anyway, here is the progress shot.......

If the shot looks a little dark it is because I am working on a creamy, beige colored paper. Stonehenge. I would tell you which color it was if I knew. I would like to know. I ordered all the colors to try from dickblick.com, it arrived wonderfully packaged, but no way to id which color was which, so now I have no idea which colors to reorder, which is a bit irritating, so creamy, beige will have to do!

So here is another Monday morning and another weekend flown past. The weather was simply beautiful, although it should not have been, it should still be winter. One of the things that I love about working with colored pencils, and the whole creative process really, is that I become absorbed not just in the painting but in thoughts, sometimes of the animals and birds that I am recreating, sometimes in simply reflecting on life and how much there is to learn and the potential to grow as a person.

And so my work progresses slowly, as colored pencil work always does. This is several days work below. I am still refining those wonderful eyes and trying to bring out the fire opal beauty within them. And work on the nose has also begun. The background is gradually becoming darker and the fur is getting more and more layers. I jump about a lot as I work.

To see more of my finished pieces click here

Well, Friday is here again, far too quickly as always. It seems that I may just about be searchable on Google at last! I still can't get used to writing to no one and yet to absolutely anybody who might find me, at the same time! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I have begun a new piece of work. My first ever big cat painting. A leopard, I said cheetah in my last blog. Completely different to look at. I was absolutely amazed by the beauty of this cat's eyes. They look like opals, stunning fire opals. Although only one is clearly visible in my reference photo, (from the fabulous wildlifereferencephotos website http://www.wildlifereferencephotos.com/), I really want to try to capture the beauty in them. So here is the beginning shot of my piece.

There is a long way to go on the parts that I have worked so far. Those eyes are going to just be layered and layered. As I get tired towards the end of the day, I start working the background. It is plain and does not take too much concentration, just a lot of patience. I will lose count of the amount of layers needed to get it dark enough. There are only three so far. You can make out the whiskers already penciled in, in white Caran D'Ache Luminance.
This piece is being worked on Stonehenge paper and I am using Faber Castell Polychromos, Caran D'Ache Luminance and Caran D'Ache Supracolor pencils.

Well, my Great Grey Owl is finished, and I know for certain I am blogging to no one at all, as problems with my website mean that search engines can't find it. But I wanted to share - if ever it can be found, the pencils and colours that I used to complete the Great Grey Owl. It looks like so few colours in the completed picture, and yet there are over sixty colours used! I tell myself every time not to use so many, it gets really difficult to keep picking the one I want out. But I can't help it. And subtle differences between even supposedly the same colour between brands mean I will often use the same color from all three brands that I have.

My next project is a Cheeta. Pictures of that coming soon. Have a happy Monday.