The Pencil Box - Featured Artists - January 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!
Queen City Bound by David Neace
11.25 x 19 inches on Arches 140lb watercolor paper
The Southern Depot was another major train station in Lexington. This train, The Royal Palm ran from Chicago to Miami. The land where the station stood was acquired after the Civil War and sat vacant for several years before building the first station. The station in my drawing is the third depot built and was destroyed by fire in the 80s. I show an on-grade crossing at the end of the train. In the 90s, the railroad crossing was made into a bridge and Broadway was excavated to go under the tracks. The photograph that I used to model the drawing was taken in the 60s as the heyday of train travel was in its last years. All the train cars used to match, now it is a mixed bag of coaches. The title “Queen City Bound” refers to Cincinnati Ohio as it was known as the Queen City at the turn of the last century (1800s to 1900s) At one time there were 4 major railways that had either freight or passenger terminals in Lexington. This drawing is a part of my historical series of Kentucky. I have several of drawings of Union Station, one of Versailles Southern station and L & N Station in Midway, Kentucky. The earliest photo I have used was from 1912 of a train in Versailles, KY.
About David Neace:
David is a self-taught colored pencil artist and has been drawing and painting for over 50 years. His love for colored pencil has never faded, and he is still learning and honing his skills with each drawing that he completes. Sometimes not knowing the rules, creativity happens!.
See more at: https://www.davidneaceartist.com/
A Fresh Start by Kendra Ferreira
11”x19" Strathmore 500 Illustration Board
I have a collection of various teacups that I have accumulated over the years, several belonged to my mother-in-law, some have been given to me and others I have purchased at places like thrift stores where I look for still life objects. Recently I have been working on a series of colored pencil drawings of my stacked teacups, some teetering a little sideways. I take time to arrange the stacks by colors or patterns and I have a few favorites such as the little dragon cup at the top and the luminous turquoise cup in the middle. Different colors, designs and reflections all captivate me and I find myself inspired to capture each little cup’s uniqueness.
My concept for this particular teacup drawing ‘A Fresh Start’ was to give it an uplifting and happy feel for my viewers. So I decided to add three teabags containing inspiring little words. This year, 2020, has been very tumultuous and at times rather distressing therefore I wanted to create a piece that could be viewed as happy and uplifting.
‘A Fresh Start’ is drawn on Strathmore Series 500 Illustration Board using a mixture Prismacolor, Caran d'Ache Luminance and Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils. The Polychromos are a harder pencil and good for rendering smooth reflective or glassy surfaces by filling in the paper's tooth. The Prismacolor and Luminance pencils are softer and easier to apply multiple layers of bright colors.
About Kendra Ferreira:
Kendra’s colored pencil subjects come from everyday life and from her travels. Most recently she has been exploring and drawing various still life set-ups in her studio. Kendra is inspired by color and enjoys experimenting different ways of working with colored pencils..
See more at: https://www.kjfdesign.com/
Nuts and Bolts by Gwen Kitching
29.7cm x 21cm Dark Grey Pastelmat
I had become a bit bored with my usual animal and nature based work, they were not challenging enough. I have always had an interest in abandoned and industrial buildings but had mostly used digital or screen printing methods to produce these. Last year (2019) I had the opportunity to visit Drax power station in Yorkshire, England for a photo shoot. Among the massive buildings I spotted 2 large metal bins containing old and battered scaffolding fixtures. I found the patterns that these discarded parts created quite arresting. The same few basic shapes repeated over and over in different combinations really called to me. The textures too were fascinating: smooth metal, stamped part numbers, thick protective paint and rust told a story of enduring strength and hard wear.
In the studio there was the challenge of picking a viewpoint from a crazy mix of parts then drawing in enough detail for me to understand and follow the shapes. Adding colour became quite complex as I had to describe the rust and the thick paint as different textures because they were very similar in colour. It was far more interesting to do than I imagined but owing to the detail and my eyes not being as young as they were it took a couple of weeks to finish. It has given me so much confidence to discover I can do work that I once would have thought impossible.
About Gwen Kitching:
Gwen Kitching has drawn and painted since childhood, moving from watercolour to coloured pencils in the early '80s She was a founder member of UKCPS but had to give up art for some years. Returning to art four years ago she now works in pastel and coloured pencils almost exclusively.
See more at: https://www.animalart.online/
Frauenkirche zu Dresden by Ronald Firla
43 x 28 cm Canson DIBUJO BASIK
Back in the 1970s, when I was a child, the Frauenkirche was a pile of rubble. Destroyed during the last days of the Second World War, it was a memorial against war. But fortunately, a short time after the German reunion, the reconstruction began. With the help of donations from all over the world, the church was completed in 2005 and consecrated again. Now it is a symbol of peace and conciliation. When you visit Dresden today, you can see the church from far away. It stands proud and solemn in the center of other historical buildings. I am standing here in the Augustusstraße, right above me is the Fürstenzug (Procession of Princes, an old mural) another sight in Dresden. You can only see half of the church because this aspect, the perspective, and the incidence of light are making the picture look interesting.
As always, I used only colored pencils, Faber-Castell Polychromos—I am a pencil purist!The paper was new for me, called DIBUJO BASIK from Canson. I bought it somewhere and wanted to try it out. I sketched the city using the grid method and drew the people out of my imagination. Because the picture was so detailed, I did not want to do it exactly like the original in the end. I gave myself the “freedom of the artist” here.
About Ronald Firla:
Ronald is a self-taught pencil artist, who uses drawing as a hobby, and lives with wife and kids nearby Dresden, Germany.
See more at: https://www.artmajeur.com/rofi13
These artworks are published in the JANUARY 2021 issue of COLOR Magazine.
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