April 2025 Showcase - Colored Pencil Artwork
The three artists featured in the April 2025 issue of COLOR Magazine Showcase share the stories behind their beautiful artwork here in our blog.
Cover Me in Sunshine by Antoniette Preston
11.7 x 16.5 inches
Polychromos and Prismacolor colored pencils on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper. (Photo from Unsplash, used with permission.)
“Cover Me in Sunshine” is a portrait created with colored pencil, capturing a tender moment between a young boy and his mother. The child, with his hands outstretched, is gently catching grains of sand falling from her palm, an intimate, almost magical gesture that embodies the fleeting beauty of childhood and the quiet, profound bonds that shape our lives. This portrait speaks to the deeply significant moments that often go unnoticed but leave lasting imprints on our hearts.
Drawing on personal memories of time spent outdoors, bathed in sunlight, this piece reflects the essence of simple pleasures, the warmth of nature, the bond between mother and child, and the beauty of connection. In drawing this scene, I hope to have captured how such moments, though small, are powerful and transformative. They remind us that life’s most meaningful experiences are often found in the quietest, most intimate gestures. “Cover Me in Sunshine” is a celebration of the simplicity and tenderness that make life extraordinary.
About Antoniette Preston:
Antoniette Preston is an Australian artist and illustrator. Self-taught, Antoniette prides herself on her ability to capture a likeness of her subject with close attention to detail. Beyond her own artistic pursuits, Antoniette is dedicated to nurturing young talent by offering tailored art classes for children.
See more at www.facebook.com/antonietteprestonillustrations
Room for Two by Jessica Barber
12 x 15.75 inches
Polychromos, Derwent Lightfast and Drawing, Luminance, and Pablo colored pencils on Pastelmat. (Artist's own photo.)
This piece is based on one of the first pictures I took of our two newly-rescued kitties when we brought them home, but it wasn’t taken outside or in the fall or on a barrel. I’m not complaining, though. They posed so perfectly on their cat tree that I knew I’d have to build a composition around the pic. So, I took additional shots in our yard with this year’s pumpkin and the barrel basket (we bought it to hide all the brown packing paper they love to play with) until I got one or two I thought had the correct positioning.
I use free online editing software to very roughly lay out the composition then adjust the color and values as I’m drawing. I had to change the lighting and the undertones in Cordelia’s and Biff’s coats to better reflect the outdoor setting and objects around them. I also darkened the color of the basket, which is actually a bleached white/gray, to allow for more contrast against their lovely white fur. I’m still learning, so there’s always some trial and error when I do this, but I use Pastelmat, which is very forgiving of my experiments.
Our sweeties have provided so much joy and endless inspiration for me during our first six months as a family, and every time I look at them I’m so happy we decided that we had room for two and brought them both home with us.
About Jessica Barber:
Jessica began drawing in 2022 after receiving acrylic paint for Christmas. Clueless about how to use it (and about art in general) she turned to YouTube. This opened the rabbit hole that led to colored pencils, which quickly replaced paint as her preferred medium. A psychologist by day, she lives in New England with her husband and rescue kitties.
See more at www.facebook.com/JessicaAnneArt
Time Changes Everything by Pauline Clay
12 x 12 inches
Prismacolor, Polychromos, and Luminance colored pencils on birch wood panel. (Artist’s own photo.)
While walking on my husband’s family farm, the shadows from these old metal wheels and the rough red texture of the paint on the weathered gray boards of the old barn grabbed my attention. I had seen them many times before, but the early morning sun created a striking scene that I knew I had to draw. I shot about a dozen photos from different angles and directions, but when planning the drawing, I ended up cropping the scene to a square. There was something about the round wheels and vertical boards in the square format that seemed just perfect.
I also wanted a surface that would complement the roughness and age of the scene, so I decided to experiment and bought a birch wood panel at a local home improvement store to use instead of paper. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but the wood panel added just the texture I was hoping for. And the pencils went down much easier than I expected. My biggest concerns were how to convey the texture of the cracked, aged paint and how to make the straw look natural. I ended up using a stippling approach to create the rough paint with a variety of reds, yellows and grays. And the birch board provided just what I needed to create the straw. My first attempts drawing the straw started to look too contrived so I laid the photo on top of the board and used a stylus to draw the straw by making impressions into the wood. Then I was able to put pencil into the groove and a shadow beside it. The straw then looked much more natural.
When I look at this scene, I see it as symbolic of life. At some point years ago, those wheels were shiny and the boards of that barn were new and painted bright red. But now, the wheels have rusted and the barn paint is brittle and cracked from age. Just like in life, time changes everything.
About Pauline Clay:
Pauline Clay, CPSA, CPX, is a self-taught artist who lives in a rural area of Virginia. This natural beauty is the inspiration for much of her colored pencil art. She is a member of the International Guild of Realism and the UK Colour Pencil Society, and a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America.
See more at www.paulineclay.com/
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