The Pencil Box - Featured Artists - April 2023
Corresponding with the art gallery that is featured each month in Ann Kullberg's COLOR Magazine, The Pencil Box blog series will give artists a bit more space to share insight and inspiration about their colored pencil art. Make sure to check out FB group links at the bottom of this post. Call for entry is posted every month in participating Facebook groups - join in the fun and your artwork could be featured, too!
All Dressed Up by Caryn Coville
11x14 inches, colored pencil on Stonehenge paper
This steel wheeled McCormack-Deering tractor, which was most likely manufactured in the 1920s by International Harvester, is ‘yard art’ at my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s home in Central New York. They decorate the tractor for Christmas, and I thought it would be fun to draw with all the different colors and textures. I especially loved the rooster sitting on top of it. I left the background less detailed than the rest of the drawing as I wanted the tractor to stand out. I used the Icarus Painting Board to help blend the colors and to add the lights to the tractor.
About Caryn Coville: 
Caryn’s work is inspired by nature, travel, and the beauty she finds in everyday objects. She is a featured artist in numerous art publications and is a contributing artist in the book Masterful Color by Arlene Steinberg. Her award-winning work has been shown in solo, juried and group exhibitions.
https://www.facebook.com/CarynCoville.Artwork/
Pensthorpe Joy by Helen Finlinson
10x12 inches, colored pencil on Pastelmat
There’s nothing like seeing joy on your children’s face and this image fills my heart with so much love. Pensthorpe national park is glorious and Freya ran up to admire the beautiful view as we explored the gardens. This image I captured has stuck with me and when it came to drawing her for the first time it was definitely top of my list. It also made for a perfect challenge as it’s my first background in coloured pencil. I had so much fun experimenting techniques when it came to all the flora and fauna and love how sometimes rough mark making can give such a realistic illusion.
About Helen Finlinson:
Helen is a pet portrait & wildlife artist living in Norfolk, UK with her partner and two children. She’s been specialising in coloured pencil for the last 6 years and squeezes in her passion for drawing animals between working part-time and looking after her two young children.
https://facebook.com/helenfinlinsonartist/
Beautiful Smile of Lisu Old Lady by Hleing Aye
20"x16", colored pencil on Lux Archival Professional Sanded Paper
Beautiful Smile of Lisu Old Lady is the portrait of Lisu Old woman who is wearing a traditional dress from one of ethic group of Myanmar. When I saw the reference photo of this portrait, her smile is very attractive, very gentle and innocent. The lighting on her face and on the dress are also very interesting to draw. After I started this portrait, the details of accessories on her dress give me a bit of trouble. I have had to pay my patience and my time and paint it to finish. I spent almost 500 hours on this portrait. By the time the painting was finished, I had no regrets about the time I had to give.
About Hleing Aye:
Hleing Aye lives in Myanmar. He is an engineer but his dream is to become an artist one day. He found the way for his dream to come true is with Colored Pencil. He is self-taught and learned through Colored pencil instruction books, website and Facebook.
Rainbow Shield Bug by Kim Hayes
11 x 8 inches, colored pencil on Clairefontaine Pastelmat
This drawing is the first one I have managed where I really feel I have achieved a good degree of realism for the first time. As soon as I saw the image I knew I wanted to attempt it as I loved the green colour palette. The background is PanPastel and then all the foreground details are in colour pencil. I particularly enjoyed getting to work with neon pencils as I haven't used anything that bright before but it really makes the bug's body pop with colour. It was challenging but incredibly rewarding to work on. I get very little time for drawing so this piece took me 16 months to complete, however, it was worth every second I spent on it.
About Kim Hayes:
Kim is an office worker by day, student in the evenings, a Mum 24 hours a day and a colour pencil artist whenever she has some spare time! She loved art whilst at school and went to college to study art and design but dropped out, only discovering colour pencils again during the first Covid lock down.
These artworks are published in the APRIL 2023 issue of COLOR Magazine.
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