November 2018 Showcase - Colored Pencil Artwork

The three artists featured in the November 2018 issue of COLOR Magazine Showcase submitted stories about their artwork for our blog. Read below about their inspiration for each of these beautiful works of art.

The Vanishing Vulture by Debbi Hide
15 x 11 inches
Prismacolor, Prismacolor Verithin and Polychromos on Pastelmat
(Artist’s own photo)

This is one of a series of colored pencils works I’ve produced this year, celebrating the beauty and diversity of the wildlife on our planet while subtly questioning our impact on it. I’m very fond of vultures — they are all personality and have the best dress sense! — but they get a lot of bad press because they are scavengers, and are therefore often regarded as dirty and ugly.

I was surprised, then, when I posted my work on Facebook and got such a positive reaction to it. I really expected most people to ignore it and look for something prettier instead. What actually happened was that it captured lots of people’s attention and they found that they rather liked vultures, too.

The original photo was one I took of an Egyptian vulture who lives out his very idyllic days at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England. He was only too happy to pose for me… as most vultures are!

About Debbie:

Debbi Hide has a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design and has been bumbling about in the art world since the 1980s, working on commercials, producing album covers for unknown bands, and being a freelance artist/designer and specialist interior decorator, until she finally morphed into a full-time art educator and professional artist.

See more at: facebook.com/dyhide

Café des Arts by Julie Podstolski
13.7 x 12.6 inches
Mostly Luminance, some Pablo and some Derwent Lightfast on Arches Aquarelle smooth
(Artist’s own photo)

"Café des Arts" is a comparison between two real people and two painted people. The figures are just ordinary people having refreshments in a Paris café called "Café des Arts". The painting behind the seated couple is a faux Degas. The original Degas was painted in 1875/6 and is known as "Dans un Café" or "Absinthe Drinkers" (now hanging in Musée d'Orsay).

I just love the juxtaposition of the contemporary people with Degas' figures from over 100 years ago. Nobody here is glamorous — this is ordinary life — but what is more, ordinary life nearly 150 years apart. Art imitates life. Life imitates art. And sometimes they both end up in the same picture.

About Julie:

Julie Podstolski is a full-time artist who is about to exhibit her 15th solo show, "Remember Paris" in Fremantle, Western Australia. Julie has a Diploma of Fine Arts (majoring in painting) from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. She began using colored pencils in 1994. She travels the world in the quest for inspiration.

See more at: juliepodstolski.com

Patrick Age 6 by Holly Bedrosian
16 x 12 inches
Prismacolor pencils on Colourfix terra cotta toned paper
(Artist’s own photo)

I do a portrait of my son every year. Just before his sixth birthday, I had completed a series of dinosaur drawings, but I wanted to do something else that captured his essence at this age. I was also beginning to work on a new paper, and I wanted to try a portrait of him on this surface. I took some photos of him in dinosaur pajamas (showing his love of dinosaurs), and hugging a beloved teddy bear. The lighting and colors just worked. I used terra cotta toned Colourfix paper and Prismacolor colored pencils. Most of the portrait doesn't have the terra cotta tone, but I still like the warmth that the color peeking through lends to the overall drawing.

About Holly:

Born in Massachusetts in 1975, Holly Bedrosian is a self-taught artist who has had a fascination with drawing faces from a young age, when she began creating portraits of family and friends. Bedrosian focuses on realistic portraiture and figurative fine art, and believes that capturing the subject's personality and character is of utmost importance.

See more at: hollybedrosian.com

These artworks were published in the November 2018 issue of COLOR Magazine.

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