January 2019 Showcase - Colored Pencil Artwork
The three artists featured in the January 2019 issue of COLOR Magazine Showcase submitted stories about their artwork for our blog. In their posts below, each artist shares their inspiration for their beautiful art.
Memory by Kinsey Lane
18 x 24 inches
Derwent Lightfast, Derwent Coloursoft, and Prismacolor on Strathmore Bristol Board 400 series. (Artist’s own reference photo.)
"Memory" is a story of a captive tiger laying restlessly as countless of zoo-goers press their faces to the glass to catch a glimpse of one of the zoo's largest cats. The tiger gets up slowly to turn his back to the glass and slumps his head on his arm as he lays down once more. I stand on a distant bridge facing him, slowly focusing in on his face with my telephoto lens. I know nothing of this tiger's backstory, but he stares off into the distance as if remembering a time he was once free in the wild.
I often take trips to the zoo to photograph animals as I did this tiger and I always wonder what the thoughts and emotions going through my subject's mind are. Are they content? Do they long for something more? "Memory" is a story created in my mind as I observed a tiger in my local zoo. I decided to create a close-up image of the tiger's face to place emphasis on the tiger's distant gaze and cause the viewer to think, "What is going on in this tiger's mind?" as I did. I chose a vibrant — almost dangerous — color palette to show the struggle of my subject's thoughts despite his seemingly content pose. The tiger's surroundings vanish as if the viewer is falling into the tiger's thought plane. I chose purple as the background color as an allusion to psychic energy and to create a complementary color contrast between the purple background and the glowing yellow tiger.
About Kinsey Lane:
Kinsey Lane is a long-time animal lover and wildlife artist. She began her artistic journey in sculpture. She was drawn to the colored pencil medium by her husband Jesse Lane, also a colored pencil artist. She is a sculpture and digital art teacher and lives in The Woodlands, Texas with her two whippets, two bearded dragons, and one husband.
See more at: https://www.facebook.com/KnzLaneArt/
Flame Tree by Kevin Rogers
20 x 12 inches
Prismacolour and Polychromos pencils on Art Spectrum 210gsm Hot Press Stock. Blending was done by utilizing odorless solvent with fine brushes and Derwent Blending and Burnishing pencils. (Photo reference: Pixabay)
The artwork is an iconic panorama of a typical Australian rural landscape. Every corner I turned on my five laps of driving around country Australia I saw this type of scene. When I saw this photo I just had to do justice to the old dead tree in the paddock because even though it only serves to be a home for the odd Australian marsupial now, it had once provided lifesaving shade to livestock under the scorching Australian summer sun. This tree served Australia and the cattleman well for many decades, but now stands as a decaying remnant of a once proud servant.
Australia is the most arid of all continents and when drought strikes, it hits the man on the land very hard. Most of Australia’s center is treeless. I lived in a town of eight people in the centre of the Northern Territory for eight years. In summer the temperature hit over 50 degrees Celsius (122 F) in the shade, so trees, even though sparse, were lifesavers to the tens of thousands of cattle on the many million acre cattle stations throughout Australia.
It is because of the service of the humble tree I dedicate this artwork to its noble service, respect to the livestock it sheltered and by simply by playing its part in adding beauty to the landscape.
About Kevin Rogers:
Kevin was born in Brisbane but raised at the Gold Coast. He has been interested in art from the age of 13 and has never stopped painting and drawing throughout his life. He has won various art awards in differing media throughout Australia and overseas. At the tender age of 61 Kevin has now settled in a tiny town called Howard, in Queensland.
See more at: https://www.facebook.com/AHistoricalArtist/
Reflections A La Pears by Tammy Hoffert
9 x 12 inches
FC Polychromos, CDA Luminance, and Prismacolor Premiers on Black Strathmore Paper. (Artist’s own photo.)
I love setting up still lives and taking my own reference photos. I enjoy taking the photos from different angles and playing with light and shadow to create different moods, which was what I did for "Reflections A La Pears." I chose to use black paper because it produces such vibrant colors when you lay down the colored pencil layers, and highlights seem to sing!
I had a blast, as I put down each stroke of color to create mood, texture, and form. The most challenging part of this piece for me was the metal tray. I wanted to show the character of the tray with its beautiful engraving, while still showing the reflections of the pears, and shadows on the tray.
About Tammy Hoffert:
Tammy Jo Hoffert is a self-taught colored pencil artist. She lives in Minot, ND with her husband Pete, and niece Tori, and of course their three kitties. Tammy has been doing colored pencil art professionally for three years, doing commissions and creating her own artwork. Her focus is on doing still lifes and florals, but also does portraits and wildlife.
See more at: www.hoffertart.com
These artworks were published in the January 2019 issue of COLOR Magazine.
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