"WEEKEND, FUN, NEW ART, COLORED PENCILS"

This weekend was very productive, as well as relaxing and full of accomplishments. I did the laundry and all the cleaning and cooking on Friday night. That left me with the whole weekend free to play with art and spend time with my son. We just goofed around all Saturday morning, just having a lazy time in our pj's with breakfast in bed while watching our favorite Food Network shows. Got some great ideas for this week's meals. How bad can that be??? In the afternoon we baked some delicious mini cheese rolls and home made peanut butter rice krispies treats. Yummy!!! The evening was chock-full of movies and board games. We really had a wonderful time!

Sunday was all about art. After mass, I came straight home and started playing with my Prismacolors, Derwents, Lyras and Pablos. I've always used colored pencils as a finishing touch on my watercolors but never have I used CP's from beginning to end or treated them as a medium in and of itself. I must admit it hasn't been easy, I'm still struggling with blending and getting the right pressure on and I have yet to decide which support suits me the best. So far I've tried Stonehenge Paper, Canson Mi Teintes and Bristol Board both smooth and vellum, not sure which I prefer yet. But it's been lots of fun experimenting with a new medium and new surfaces.

After weeks of inertia and inability to create, I feel very refreshed and ready to try new things. I figured the best way to come out of that rut was to explore something totally new and challenging. Not only am I using different materials, I'm also trying out a new palette, bolder and brighter than my usual pastel choices and playing with cute animal characters mixed with french revolution era costumes.

WOW, there is a lot going on right now! Guess I didn't realized it until I actually wrote it down. So far, I have lots of sketches, and color experiments, but nothing I feel like posting yet. I didn't learn watercolors overnight and I'm not expecting that to happen with colored pencils either but I'm sure having a great time and when I feel that a CP piece is good enough, I'll definitely show it to all.

Another thing, I'm trying to limit the amount of time I spend online. I only realized how much time I'm actually taking away from making art when I sat down in my studio yesterday and completely forgot about the computer for hours. I can get completely carried away when I start blogging or posting comments on my friend's entries or tweeting or at forums, I always tell myself I'm only going to do a little posting and before I know, hours have passed by. I must find a balance, since I love being online with all of my wonderful friends here, at FAE Forum and other sites. However, I must also focus and concentrate on my art a lot more and that means, clearing my thoughts and being 100% in the creative process. Perhaps I should make a schedule and follow it, although I'm not very good at following anything, I'm a pretty much go with the flow kinda person. Oh, well, will work on it.

Last but not least, if any of you has experience with colored pencils and want to share some of your knowledge with me, I'll greatly appreciate it. Anything will be more than welcome and I'd love if anyone suggested a few good books on the subject, especially ones that are directly related to fantasy art. In fact, any links about cp's that are about fantasy art, since I have browsed through a ton of tutorials and other things but not necessarily relavant to my favorite genre. Of course, they helped, a lot, but it would be nice to see something more especific.

Many hugs,
Jade