Lil' Friends Series ....

I think I have started a new ACEO series ... called "Lil' Friends"  .... beginning with

"Lil' Circus Clown"

and followed today by "Lil' Forest Fairy"

"Lil' Circus Clown" is entered in the Grumbacher monthly ATC Art Swap with its circus theme; and Lil' Forest Fairy" is entered in the Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) monthly Art Challenge with its theme of forest creatures.  I am hoping they both do well!

Off to work on another "Lil' Friend"!

Karen Anne

"Zentangle Beta" a new ACEO

Here is another Beta!  Only this time I have used zentangle designs in creating this little gem of a fish.  Been feeling kinda sluggish lately, so this is about as creative as I can get ... the weather is supposed to be getting warm towards the end of the week ... maybe that will perk me up!  I can always hope!

"Zentangle Beta"

The original is available at this link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121103497785?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Open Edition prints here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/130808741/aceo-open-edition-art-print-titled?ref=shop_home_active

Take care,

Karen Anne aka Ireland Brady

"Monarch Fairy and Butterfly"

I seem to be favoring fairies lately ... my latest ACEO piece is a take on the monarch butterfly, a Monarch Fairy!  Perhaps she is the protector of Monarch Butterflies?  If so, she certainly looks like a very loving and caring protector ... 

"Monarch Fairy and Butterfly"

I really think Monarch Butterflies are so very beautiful, perhaps this weekend I'll try my hand at creating a Blue Monarch Fairy and Butterfly ACEO ... sounds like fun!  Don't you think?

The original of this little gem is now on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121097875768

Authorized Open Edition ACEO Art Prints are on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/129882962/aceo-open-edition-art-print-titled

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Big hugs,

Karen Anne aka Ireland Brady

"Bitty Betta #12" !

The series is complete!  Here is the final little charmer .....

"Bitty Betta 12"

Hmmm, he seems to look a bit sad that the series is ending.....

You can find the original ACEO for sale on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281065909961

Open Edition ACEO Art Prints on Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/IrelandBrady?ref=si_shop

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Karen Anne aka Ireland Brady

Little Girl WIP - Day 2

Today began with my adding several more layers of skin tone colors to the little girl's face.  I find it a bit difficult to determine the shading when just working on the skin so I moved on and began working on her eyes, her lips and a bit of the hair, especially the hair around the face.  By adding these features I will be able complete the shadowing on the face.

At one point I had applied so many layers that I was finding it difficult to add more color because the "tooth" of the paper had been flattened by all the additions.  I took one of my blending stubs and gently smoothed the layers together after which I applied a coat of workable fixative.  When you begin to lose the "tooth" on the paper, a light coat of workable fixative allows you to add more shades with relative ease.  Another tip to remember, when you have applied too much color it can be lifted off the paper with a kneadable eraser or by lighly placing a small piece of magic tape on the offending area and using a ball point pen to trace over the area you want lightened, then gently lift the tape up and it removes the unwanted marks.

Her face is beginning to come together and is now taking on a realistic appearance.  There is still quite a bit more work to be done, but at this point I am beginning to feel a sense of accomplishment.  Here is where we are at today's end .....

The weather here in Portland is supposed to be in the 70's for the next few days and I will be taking advantage of this good fortune to weed out some flower beds and put in some seeds for a nice herb garden.  Ergo, I may not get any work done on our little girl until I get a good handle on my gardening endeavors.

Til I post again ... Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

PS  I have been studying this drawing since 5PM (its now 8:24PM),  have noticed  three glaring mistakes I am going to need to correct at the first possible chance.  Primary rule in art ... if it doesn't look right ... it is wrong ... I found 3 wrongs.   I'm working off a photo, what works in a photo and I was trying to hard to faithfully follow from the photo ... doesn't always work in an illustration, now I am going back to "Karen Basics" ... do what feels right, not what you think you see.

PPS  I am using techniques I have learned and am learning from the book "Colored Pencil Portraits - Step by Step" by Ann Kullberg and my other favorite book, by Alyona Nickelsen in her book "The Colored Pencil Painting Bible".

WIP - Day Five

It's hard to believe that this is Day Five!  Today I basically worked on the hair color; first I applied several layers of different shades of brown and then blended them with the colorless blending pencil.  When you use a blender pencil (or mineral spirits), colors have a tendency to change a bit, one of the dark browns I had used turned to a charcoal black when blended.  Lesson learned?  Test out your colors with a blender on a separate sheet of paper so that unwanted results don't show up on the piece you are working on.

I didn't really like the results after using the colorless blender so I turned to a paper stump dipped into mineral spirits.  This perked it up a bit, but I still felt something was amiss.  I added fine lines of tuscan red, dark brown and terra cotta (Verithin pencil) and this seemed to be helping achieve what I was striving for.  Yet still, I was not satisfied with what I was seeing.

Finally I fell back on my trusted and faithful tools ... my art illustration pens!  I used orange, light brown and dark brown, diligently applying several lines of each.  At last I was gaining the look and feel of hair.

Another nice little trick, it is always nice to see some white strands of hair in the piece, an easy way to do this is to place a piece of tracing paper over the art paper and, using a fine point ball point pen, draw the strands onto the tracing paper.  When you apply your colors these lines are deep enough that they don't pick up color and provide the light strands you may want.

Having a few minutes to spare and not wanting to work on the hair any more today, I began working on the shadowing of the hands using a soft core pencil in peach.

Here are the results of today's efforts .....

 

Oh, yeah ... I didn't like the way the eye on the left side of the sheet was looking so I "erased" what I didn't like using an X-acto knife blade with slow gentle strokes and then added some corrections with verithin pencils.  It still needs some more work, but not today!

Take care and Happy Day!

Karen Anne

Bowl of Cherries - A Colored Pencil Illustration in Progress

A BIG HI to everyone!  I want to try another colored pencil illustration and for the subject I have chosen an old photo (circa 1993) from our family album of my grandson when he was about 3 years old outside on the back deck.  I had just taught him how to make earrings out of cherries, something fun I used to do when I was a young child.

What I am going to do is, at the end of each day I will share with you what I have accomplished for that day.  Today I made a rough sketch and then refined it by placing a piece of tracing paper over and traced the basic lines I wanted (I would have shown the pre-sketch but it had so many erasures and smudges that I could not get a decent scanned copy); then I flipped it over and saw some of the drawing  didn't look right, so I flipped the paper back over and erased the parts I didn't like, then I flipped the piece over again and redrew the areas I didn't like on the back, when I flipped it back ... the parts I hadn't liked looked good!  Nice new little tool ... use tracing paper (front and back) to get proportions relatively correct!

Once that was completed, I took the tracing paper drawing and taped it to the back of my art paper then traced the drawing (using a dark brown Prisma Verithin pencil) onto the good piece with the aid of a light table.  I used dark brown colored pencil to eliminate any problems that might occur if I had used a graphite pencil.  I also made a tracing of the boy and the deck rail on some masking (I think is called fisker paper?) paper so that I could protect the tracing from smudges while working on the back ground.

So .... first I will show you the photo I am working from, followed by the tracing paper sketch that I applied to my piece of art paper .....

"Bowl of Cherries" subject photo

"Bowl of Cherries" Tracing Paper Sketch

 

As you can see, even the tracing paper sketch is pretty smudged too!

My goal with this project is not to try to attain a photo like rendering, but rather a good semi-realistic illustration with vibrant colors using a fun subject.  As you can see in this sketch, I have added a shirt, a cherry in his once empty hand, plus a "Bowl of Cherries" on a table in front of the little guy.  "Artistic License"?

I hope you will enjoy going along with me on this learning journey.

Happy Day!

Karen Anne

Little Girl .... A Drawing In Progress

I have begun working on a new drawing that encompasses using new (to me) techniques in colored pencil layering and blending.  I did the background yesterday and today I worked on the face, hair and hands.  I thought it might be kinda fun to share each day's progress with you.

When doing the background I layered 4 different colors of Prisma Premier colored pencils,  then I took a cotton ball wetted with mineral spirits  and dabbed at the colored area until all the layers began to fuse together.  The mineral spirits kinda act like a melting agent when dabbed onto the colored pencil and give a unique effect.

When I was working on the face today, I had over layered colors so much so that her skin appeared muddy, so I took some magic tape (the kind you buy in any ol' store) and slowly lifted off the excess layers.  To get extra highlights in the hair, I gently laid a piece of magic tape over the area where I wanted more highlight, and with a pen gently drew the highlight on the tape, removed the tape and the tape removed the excess and gave me the highlight I wanted.

With a fine point pen I added the details of the hair which provided more depth to the picture.  To smooth the skin and the hair ribbon and the dress collar, I gently applied a blender pencil so the shadows appear softer.

So ... here is what I have as of today ....

Tomorrow I plan to work on her outfit ... so tonight I will study the drawing and try to decide the colors that will best work.

See you tomorrow!

Karen Anne

FYI:  The paper I am using is by Stonehenge, 100% Cotton, Vellum Finish, 250 GSM, Acid Free, and made in the USA.   It is amazing - it doesn't warp when wettened!  And believe me, the Mineral Spirits wash I applied really saturated the paper.  You have to wait until all is dry before proceeding.

          Also, important note, when using magic tape to remove excess color, be sure to lift it gently .... at one point, I jerked the tape off and removed a thin layer of paper & had to really work to correct missing patch!  Gentle is the key word when using magic tape to "erase" color.

        Finally, I used masking paper to cover the girl when I was applying the background and then the mineral spirits wash.  Well, the mineral spirits worked their way under the masking paper and desolved the masking paper adhesive leaving behind a sticky goo ... I tried removing it with rubbing alcohol and created a mess .... so I let that dry and tried some lighter fluid ... it worked great!  Removed the goo and the mess the alcohol had left... This is truly turning into one big learning experience.

"Strawberry" A New Colored Pencil Study

This is another colored pencil study of a Strawberry.    The original background did not turn out well at all ... so an "India Ink" wash to the rescue!

"Strawberry"

If you are interested in learning these techniques yourself, purchase the book "Colored Pencil Painting Bible" (Techniques for Achieving Luminous Color and Ultrarealistic Effects) by Alyona Nickelsen

This book has to be one of the best investments I have ever made!