July 2018 Showcase - Colored Pencil
The three artists featured in the July 2018 issue of COLOR Magazine Showcase submitted stories about their artwork for our blog. Read below about their inspiration for each of these interesting animal subjects.
Coming Unwound! by Sherry Smith
22 x 13.5 inches
22 x 13.5 inches, Prismacolor, Lyra Rembrandt, Luminance colored pencil on Fabriano Artistico soft-pressed paper.
As Spring inches closer to us, I wait with great expectation for those first pops of color after the lack thereof in Winter. Tulips are such a welcome sight! I like to take my subject matter, arrange them on a background of patterned fabric that both compliments and contrasts with them in the direct sunlight, and compose away! The shadows cast on the fabric are also an integral part of my composition and direct the viewer's gaze. "Coming Un-wound" is a celebration of the season and the hope of warmth and light to come. I chose a fabric that seemed to be exploding with color and reflected my emotions as I discover each new blossom in our own back yard!
About Sherry:
Sherry Smith holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Akron. She grew up in Ohio and moved to Virginia after graduation. Although Sherry was a Ceramics major, she started using colored pencils in the mid 1980's when oil painting became too cumbersome ( and her cats kept walking through her palette!)
See more at: https://www.facebook.com/Sherry-Smith-Art-284080361649295/
Artist Life by Skye Riseley
33 x 47 inches
Holbein, Prismacolor, Caran d'Ache and Lyra colored pencils on watercolor paper
This artwork was drawn based on a still life set up I put together of a variety of art materials laying around. I wanted to capture the mess of an artists space but also the love and importance of an artists tools. I find a lot of interest in drawing still lives as you can create your own story and composition. You also have the challenge of making it representational but still include your own style and creativity. Being an artist and an art teacher I am literally surrounded by my craft all day long, it can be easy to let the joy of creating become every day and the luxury of the tools I have to work with become mundane and expected. This work is a friendly reminder to myself to appreciate how blessed I am to do what I do and have what I have.
About Skye: 
Skye Riseley is a Perth artist and high school art teacher. Working mostly in colour pencil for a little over a year, Skye explored many mediums before finding her passion in pencil. The main consistencies seen in her work is her use of bold colour and her goal to express joy and emotion in her work. Her work being inspired by her daily life.
See more at: http://www.skyeriseley.com
See me by Mandy Peltier
800 x 1000 inches
Pencils and paper
Credit photo
My husband's transient job requires our family to move every few years. From 2007-2009, we lived in Nigeria as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed newlyweds ready to conquer the world. It was truly an experience of a lifetime to take in the sites, sounds, and smells of Africa and to embark on a lifelong dream of seeing the world. During our time in Nigeria, we went on many adventures, including a safari! We also enjoyed hiking around the city we lived in, and on one of our hikes we passed through a village belonging to the Fulani tribe.
The people were very friendly and happy to let me snap a few photographs. This young woman is one of the portraits I took on our hike that day. I always had intentions of hanging this photo up in my house alongside other photos I've taken in the different countries we've lived in and visited, but I have never gotten around to it. When I was thinking about what I wanted my next colored pencil project to be, I knew I wanted something that showed a lot of emotion, and this photo immediately came to mind. I realized as soon as I started working on this piece that I was never meant to hang her photo on our wall but to draw her. Living overseas in foreign cultures is not all daisies and roses, and it definitely includes hardships and homesickness.
Quite unintentionally, I starting drawing "See Me" ten years to the month after I took it, which brought back a flood of memories and completeness that were like a soothing balm to my soul. Home is not one place to me but everywhere I've lived. Pieces of my heart are scattered all over the globe. "See Me" has a twofold meaning. The expression on her face implores the viewer to not just notice her, but to really take her in and see her for who she is and for what she can offer this world. Less importantly, the reflection in her eyes is me, so when you look at this drawing, you can see me, too.
About Mandy:
Mandy Peltier is a colored pencil artist and teacher who currently lives and works in Northeast Ohio. When she is not creating art or teaching an art class, Mandy enjoys spending time with her family, working out, crocheting, sewing, reading, drinking coffee, gardening, and tapping her maple tree for syrup in the winter.
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See more at: http://www.mandypeltier.com
These artworks were published in the July 2018 issue of COLOR Magazine.
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