The Pencil Box - Featured Artists - August 2021
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!
African Leopard by Frederique Horton
12" x 10" colored pencil on Pastelmat.
I have been working on the Big 5 for a few weeks, and the leopard has completed the set. I wanted to find one that was gentle yet fierce looking and the photo I chose for inspiration was just perfect. An awesome animal, with I reckon about 250 spots as a daunting task. But it certainly proved to be a fascinating challenge! I love drawing wild animals and this one was no exception, the eyes are always on the lookout for anything it seems, the fur is lush and lustrous, and I am in awe of them. What better subjects to draw?
About Frederique:
Frederique is a former French teacher originally from Paris, now living in South Wales, UK. She is a self-taught coloured pencils artist who took up drawing 3 years ago after a chance conversation with a new friend. She specialises in all kinds of animals, big and small!
See more at: https://www.frederiquehortonart.com/
Wanderung durch die Mark Brandenburg by Ronald Firla
23x35 cm colored pencil on Hahnemühle Nostalgie
This artwork shows a part of the “Mark Brandenburg”, a beautiful and poetic landscape in Germany. It is located in the eastern part of the country, near the capital, Berlin. Lying between lakes, forests and fields, it is embedded in an even landscape with a few small hills. My artwork shows the rays of morning light touching a natural path, a typical view in the countryside of Brandenburg. I created the piece using Faber-Castell Polychromos (99%) and 1% graphite pencil for the sketch. The title of the picture is inspired by a book of the famous German poet “Theodor Fontane”, called “Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg” (meaning “Strolls through the Mark Brandenburg”).
About Ronald:
Ronald is a self-taught artist from Germany. He lives with his wife and children nearby Dresden/Saxony.
See more at: https://www.artmajeur.com/rofi13
Lockdown Hair by Harriet Blaskett
8x12 inches colored pencil on Grafix drafting film 0.005 matte both sides
The subject of the artwork is Agnes, our rescue dog who we adopted from Dogs Trust in 2011, shortly after I started working for the charity. She was a rather noisy and nervous puppy and she still has her quirks, but she loves us as her family with that unconditional love and boundless enthusiasm that only dogs show, with her whole body wagging in greeting not just her tail! This year was my parents 40th Wedding anniversary and I decided to draw our family dogs as a gift to celebrate. My favourite thing to draw is the eyes, I always start with them because it’s instant life and character on my page and if you get them right the rest follows on nicely, only I hit a problem… Agnes is rather hairy! We just could not get a photo of her where her eyes were visible, so my sister decided she needed a haircut. The result was our poor dog looking like a child who had cut its own fringe! There was nothing for it but to give her an uncharacteristic topknot and the result just made us laugh so I went with it, it mirrored the human situation at the time with all the hairdressers forced to close.
About Harriet:
Harri started drawing with coloured pencils in March 2020 during the first lockdown. Having always been a lover of both art and animals, her subject choice was obvious and she aims to capture not just a physical likeness, but also the personality which makes each animal so special and unique.
See more at: https://www.facebook.com/HB.petportraits/
Times Square, NY by Sue Briaris
8"x6" colored pencil on white Pastelmat
This work is special to me because it is a great memory of a long awaited family holiday we took in 2013 to New York. We spent a week visiting lots of tourist attractions and whilst we were waiting for a bus I took a photo of the famous 'Times Square sign'. I decided as it was a special time it would be lovely to have a reminder of the trip to hang on the wall. It's the first time I have drawn a cityscape (as I usually draw flowers, animals and still life) and it was quite a challenge getting the perspective right but it definitely won't be the last.
About Sue:
Sue Briaris first started painting in 2015 but became interested in coloured pencils when an artist was demonstrating them in a local art shop in 2016. She took several workshops and soon became hooked. Since then, she has drawn for family and friends and undertaken several commissions.
These artworks are published in the AUGUST 2021 issue of COLOR Magazine.
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