The Pencil Box - Featured Artists - January 2024

Dawn at Deer Park by Andrew Lewis
12 x 31 inches, colored pencil on Drafting Film

Deer Park is a privately owned country house and estate in Devon that is available for hire as an elegant wedding and event venue. It’s a special place for Andrew — his wife Caroline worked there in her teenage years and they sometimes dated there. Recently, Andrew’s eldest daughter, Chloe, was married there.

Andrew was commissioned to create this piece to enable past and future wedding parties to remember their day and celebrate its beauty. John Jones, who commissioned the work, was keen to encompass as wide a view as possible — to include the Georgian orangery, Italian garden, the main house, its beautiful garden borders and the eucalyptus and copper beech trees in the grounds.

Andrew then commissioned Peninsula Landscapes (Tim Jones) to produce a reference that was used as a base for the building and garden details and he created this panoramic piece to capture the dawn sun starting to rise from behind the copper beech trees.

ANDREW LEWIS:

Retiring in 2022 from a 37-year corporate banking career, Andrew took up his passion for colour pencils on a permanent basis and now produces landscape and portrait works for a wide variety of clients, both in the UK and abroad.
FACEBOOK: Artarl


Jack in the Leaves by Donna Hyde
8 x 11 inches, colored pencil on Polydraw Drafting Film

When I saw this image on Pixabay I knew immediately I wanted to try and capture the vibrancy of the leaves even though I had never drawn a background before. Having had a Parson Russell Terrier, I’m particularly fond of drawing them and Jack Russell Terriers, so this lovely dog surrounded by such gorgeous colours was impossible to resist. I’m fairly new to colour pencil work and since I started I have been working mainly on head and neck poses, concentrating on my lights and darks, getting the fur details correct and working on the facial features — I especially love drawing the eyes. I did the dog’s head first and then took each leaf in turn, working out from the top of his head and circling around until I had finished. This really challenged me and although some leaves seemed easier to get down on the paper than others, they took twice as long as the dog! Drawing this piece has taught me how much I love colour and now I want to try drawing other pieces with backgrounds (using my favourite breed of dog of course!)

DONNA HYDE:

Donna is a 58-year-old part-time accountant who started working with colour pencils at the end of 2021 and particularly enjoys drawing Parson and Jack Russell Terriers. She lives in rural isolation up on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England.



Autumn Rainbow by Janna Hilferty
9.5x9.5 inches, colored pencil on Pastelmat

I fell in love with this colorful cornucopia of pumpkins with their bright pop of red sneakers! To me, the reference photo just perfectly embodied fall. I loved using such a wide range of colors and values to make these pumpkins come to life. The multi-color cement texture was a new and fun challenge for me to capture as well! Using Pastelmat was a great choice, because it allowed me to use many light layers to achieve the depth of color in each of the pumpkins. Each one was so different and unique, it felt like I was starting a new piece each time.

JANNA HILFERTY:

Janna Hilferty is a colored pencil artist living in Texas with her husband and two dogs. Though she has drawn since she was little, she began daily drawing and creating realistic portraits in earnest two years ago. She has a pet portrait business and has a passion for drawing animals and botanicals.
FACEBOOK: Fine Art by Janna


After the Dawn by Tracy Barnett
8.3 x 11.7 inches, colored pencil on Grafix Drafting Film

I discovered this wonderful photo by Frances Crickmore and just had to recreate it. I love hares so the opportunity to draw this one in such a beautiful pose was something I had to try. I simplified the background and added warmth to depict the sunrise. I love the versatility of drafting film, the ability to work on both sides to add depth and the capacity the underlay backgrounds. I painted this background using watercolours and lay the drafting film over it to create the soft misty effect of dawn. It really makes the detail of the Hares fur stand out.

TRACY BARNETT:

Tracy Barnett is a wildlife and pet artist based in Derbyshire. As well as being a commissioned artist, she also dedicates much of her work to raising awareness for animal charities around the world.
FACEBOOK: Art by Tracy Barnett