Artwork Gallery - Colored Pencil

* all works ©Kathie Miranda

 * all works framed unless otherwise noted and available for acquisition *

* contact info:  kathieartist@gmail.com

My colored pencil work is rendered with professional quality,

permanent colors only:

My Favorite Album, 26 x 22, $1,500

Stone Still (Robin Fledgling), 12 x 14, $450

Brown Pelican, 34 x 27.5, $1,750

American Holly, 24 x 20, $1,500

Phalaenopsis Orchid, 24 x 20, $1,500

Pokeweed, 18 x 14, $675

Figs, 10 x 8, $350

Fruits from Rain, 26 x 22, on brown paper, $675

(see how I did this here)

Pansies, 14 x 17, $650

For colored pencil on film, I fragment my source image into several parts, and then draw them on the front and  back of 2 sheets of artist quality film.  When the sheets are stacked together, the result is a deep, atmospheric effect:

Paradise (Birds of Paradise), 10 x 8, $425

Colored Pencil on stacked film

Tropicana (Canna), 17 x 15, $625

Colored Pencil on stacked film

Prayer (Prayer Plant), 9 x 7, $425

Colored Pencil on stacked film

Summer Turbans (Tiger Lily), 12 x 10, $425

Colored Pencil on film over decorative paper

Do re mi - fa so (Cherry Tomatoes), 8 x 10, $375

Colored Pencil on film over decorative paper

For colored pencil on Travertine stone tile, I love letting the natural veining and pits of the tile to remain visible through the colored pencil layers:

Black Rose (Aeonium), 4 x 4, $275

Colored Pencil on Travertine Stone Tile

Bird Beak (Birds of Paradise), 4 x 4, $275

Colored Pencil on Travertine Stone Tile

Paddle & Jade (African Paddle & Jade Plants), 8 x 8, $550

Colored Pencil on Travertine Stone Tile

Working with Colored Pencil Powder

As many of you know, I prefer a background for my botanical drawings and paintings versus the traditional presentation on a stark white page.  Working with colored pencil on colored papers presents some fun challenges and great color effects which I continue to explore.  I wrote about this in a previous post Black is Fascinating.

This piece is rendered with colored pencil on Canford Mocha colored paper.  The value of the paper is ~50%.  I added lighter values with whites and pale colored pencils as there is no "white of the paper" for these effects.

For the background, I chose several Caran d'Ache Pablo pencils since they are more opaque than other brands and have lots of covering power.  I grated them against a fine-mesh tea strainer into powder form.

Making Colored Pencil Powder

Powder Grated into Wells of Watercolor Palette

Next, I masked the positive areas to keep them clean during the background lay-in.  The masks are simply paper cutouts weighted down with various size hardware washers to keep the cutouts in place.    (I avoided taping them down, or using frisket masking film, because the plate-smooth paper surface is easily marred by even the lightest tack found in these products)

Paper Masks Weighted with Washers

With the masks in place, I freely worked the background with my chosen colors (from bottom up, dark to light).  I dipped a dry filbert brush into the colored pencil powder, and drew/pushed the powder into place.

Applying Powdered Colored Pencil

Lots of powder remained on the paper surface; so I pushed it further into the limited paper tooth with a cotton pad. I applied a few layers in this manner - adding color with the brush and smoothing it with the cotton pad - until I was satisfied with the result.

Cotton Pad to Push Powder Into Paper Tooth

The finished piece...

Fruits from Rain
(Wine-cap Stropharia Mushrooms)

Black is fascinating...

One of my favorite techniques is working with colored pencil on black paper (and also mocha colored paper, an ~ 50% value, lovely warm brown).  Colors sing in a different way when applied to a colored ground; black is the most intriguing.

The grapes are two different table grapes I bunched together for composition purposes - no, they didn't actually grow that way on the vine - that was me, taking "artistic liberties" and having fun!

I did rubbings of wild grape leaves growing nearby, and impressed the resulting images of leaf veins and margins to the background before applying colored pencil.   I used Prismacolor #1098 Artichoke, which reads as "gold", in a single layer over the impressed lines, and a couple of more layers to the surrounding area to punch up the effect.

The grapes have a "reverse grisaille" underpainting in white colored pencil.  That is, I applied the highlights and lights while leaving the black paper for the darkest darks.  Conversely, when working a grisaille on white paper, dark tones are added while saving the white of the paper for highlights and light values.

4 Grape Leaves
Colored Pencil on Black Stonehenge

Sometimes ideas take awhile to gestate...

I finished a 6" x 8" cherry tomato study today - colored pencil on Dura-Lar matte film. I worked both sides of the film, varying saturation and temperature to get the desired effect.  The tomato second from the left has been back painted with cel vinyl white paint to make it pop forward.

Forever on my mind is depth of space/position in space.  And 'what else can I do with it?'

Do Re Mi - Fa So 2
with Robin's egg blue backing paper

Do Re Mi - Fa So
with deep green marbled decorative paper

This backing paper lends an abstract hint of viney stems

I like this one.

Paradise, Colored Pencil on stacked Dura-Lar Film, has won First Place!  The Magic of Colored Pencil, sponsored by the New England Chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America held a juried exhibition recently at Spring Bull Gallery