Hello Colored Pencil Artists: I’m trying a different format to send the monthly free packet. For those who have difficulty in downloading a PDF, this may solve the problem! You’ll be able to view it on the blog and print as needed. Plus, you can direct your students and fellow colored pencil artists to the blog.

This month’s study is about the color Orange. Color affects moods and orange is often used to create a feeling of happiness – it also represents the color of fall; which is upon us, where did the summer go?

The project is based on a photo by Heidi Conover, Okinawa. Thank you Heidi for permission to do a colored pencil project from your photography! A big thank you to Sharon Burkenbine, WA for sending me her daughter’s beautiful photo!

Prismacolor Colored Pencils & Prismacolor Lightfast Colored Pencil

• Cream
• Canary Yellow
• Orange
• Pumpkin Orange
• Lightfast Cad Red Hue – can substitute Crimson Red
• Tuscan Red
• Pale Sage
• Moss Green
• Kelp Green
• Denim Blue

Sharpen new pencils with an electric pencil sharpener; don’t sharpen off the color names!

Other Supplies

White paper to pencil on – suggestions:

• white hand-dyed paper from Janelle
• white sketchbook paper
• white Mi-Teintes paper

(Any paper that has tooth to it. Whatever paper you select will have it’s own characteristics and that should be considered when making your choice.)

My initial sketches and color swatches were done on sketchbook paper. I like it for quick color studies but not for a finished project. The paper is too soft, but if a backboard is put behind the paper it will help to strengthen it.

The following instructions will be for how I did the final artwork on white hand-dyed paper that has been adhered to wood boxes. You may select to do your pencil paintings in a sketchbook or on a large piece of paper. If so, then few of the following supplies will be needed.

• 12-3 1/4″x 3 3/4″ white hand-dyed papers available from Janelle -

http://janellejohnson.com/products.php?cat=21    You may need to copy and paste this link into your browser. One paper will be used in this lesson and the remaining will be used in future lessons. Future lessons will be sent free of charge by email if you signed up for my blog or through the mailing list www.janellejohnson.com.

• Wood boxes/shelf – Kingslan & Gibilisco Decorative Art –

http://kingslan.com/products.php?cat=39&pg=7    You may need to copy and paste this link into your browser.

• Lineco Neutral pH adhesive for adhering paper to wood boxes
• DecoArt Mint Julip for basecoating the boxes
• DecoArt Golden Straw, for trimming the lid on box
• Ceramcoat Autumn Brown acrylic for staining the shelf, the acrylic was mixed ½ & ½ with Plaid FolkArt Blending Gel to create a stain.
• 1″ sponge brush for applying the adhesive to the papers and boxes
• ½” synthetic flat for applying the acrylic colors on the trim sections of the boxes
• Krylon Workable Fixatif no. 1306 for spraying the colored pencils to set the pencils to the paper.
• Wet-n-dry extra fine grit sandpaper for lightly sanding after spraying the Fixatif
• JW’s Right Step waterbase matte finish varnish for a protective finish on the boxes
• Sue Scheewe’s graphite for transferring the design to the hand-dyed paper
• 4H drawing pencil to trace the design on tracing paper and to transfer the design
• Prismacolor hand-held pencil sharpener to refreshen a point
• Tracing paper
• Stylus
• Rebecca Baer’s Romantic Notions no. ST-804 stencil for embellishing the lid of the box available from www.rebeccabaer.com.
• Scotch Tape – red or green label for taping pattern onto paper and for removing excess graphite. If penciling on Mi-Teintes paper or other lightweight paper use a lighter weight tape such as Scotch Removable Tape – blue label.
• Factis white vinyl eraser for erasing smudges off the white paper.

Prep instructions – please note that I do not recommend sealing the wood.

A better bond is formed between the wood, acrylic and paper if the wood isn’t sealed.

1. Using the sponge brush basecoat the boxes and lids with two coats of Mint Julip. Allow drying between coats. The first coat may need to be sanded if it’s too rough.
2. After the acrylic has dried several hours the paper can be adhered to the box.
3. Using the sponge brush base the surface of the box with a coat of Lineco Neutral pH adhesive. Base the back of the paper with the adhesive. Lay the paper on top of the box and smooth the paper down. If you’re using the hand-dyed paper from Janelle any adhesive that oozes out can be removed with a damp paper towel.

It’s important to keep the paper clean (white is easy to get smudges on) so it’s recommended that your fingers be inside little plastic bags as you smooth the paper down.

1. Allow several hours to dry.
2. Transfer the design to tracing paper using the 4H drawing pencil. Lay the tracing of the design on the box and tape in place.
3. Slip the Sue Scheewe graphite under the tracing and trace over the lines of the design. The design should be as light as possible so lift the tracing to make sure you’re not pressing to hard. Adjust pressure as needed. DO NOT use graphite to transfer the vein lines in the petals.
4. Remove the graphite. Using a stylus transfer the vein lines on the petals using a bit of pressure. This transfers the vein lines by means of an indented line; this is call scraffito.

Lid of Box

1. The lid of the box is embellished with Rebecca Baer’s stencil and Metallic Gold. Keep the pencil really sharp and stay up on the point and fill in the stencil outline. So easy and adds an elegant touch!
2. The rim of the lid is painted with DecoArt’s Golden Straw using the small synthetic flat brush.

The size of the square outline is 3 3/4"x 3 1/4".

Hibiscus Petals

• High Light/ Cream
• Light/ Canary Yellow
• Medium/ Orange
• High Dark/Pumpkin Orange
• Dark/ Tuscan Red
• Accent/ Cad Red Hue

Step 1

1. Using the circular motion base in each petal with a light application of Orange.  Circular motion is a series of small overlapping circles applied using the back shaft of the pencil. This will cover the entire petal and will go to the graphite line. If the graphite line is too dark it may be difficult to cover it with Orange. You may need to remove a bit of graphite by laying a piece of Scotch Tape on the graphite and scratching on top of the tape with your fingernail. The graphite will adhere to the tape and most will come off the paper. As you pencil over the petals the indented lines will be revealed. Note: the top petal shown in Step 1 photo is completed.

Step 2

1. Using the circular motion and Pumpkin Orange start at the base of each petal and apply the first dark value of shading. This will be applied through 1/3 of the petal starting next to the center.
2. Using Pumpkin Orange apply a line in each indented transfer. The pencil must be really sharp or it will not fit into the indentation. If needed, you can sharpen the point on a piece of fine grit sandpaper for a needle sharp point.
3. Note the rolled edges on the petals. Don’t apply the shading color of Pumpkin Orange in the rolled areas, leave these the basecoat of Orange. This also includes the stamen that is between the top finished petal and the petal to the right of it as noted in the Step 2 photo.

Step 3

1. Using the circular motion and Tuscan Red apply dark value on top of the previous application of Pumpkin Orange. This will start at the base of the petal but will only be applied on top of the Pumpkin Orange about halfway.
2. Apply Tuscan Red with a sharp point in the vein lines starting at the base of the petal and coming out 1/3 of the length of the vein.
3. Using the circular motion and Cad Red Hue start at the top of the Tuscan Red and apply the accent color.
4. If any pencil application leaves a hard line and is not a smooth transition from one color to the next blend over the top with Pumpkin Orange in the dark areas, next to the center, and Orange throughout the rest of the petal. This is how colored pencils are blended – an application on top of a previous application. This also begins to make the petal opaque.
5. Note the shading around the stamen.

Step 4

1. Make sure the petal is pretty much opaque through the light value areas. If it’s not, apply Orange using the circular motion. Don’t use too much pressure or the petal will become too slick and the application of light values will not hold.
2. Using the circular motion apply Pumpkin Orange on the outside edge on the tip of each petal.
3. Using Canary Yellow and the circular motion, apply light value through the center 1/3 of the petal. Don’t let this overlap too far into the dark value next to the Pumpkin Orange or it will become a dull color.
4. Using Cream apply the lightest value on top of Canary Yellow. This will cover a smaller area than the Canary Yellow. Cream will also be the blending color and smooth the colors underneath and help in achieving an opaque petal.

Stamen

1. Using the circular motion and Cad Red Hue apply the 4 red dots on the top of the stamen. Outline them with a fine line of Cream.
2. Apply a small dot of highlight in the center of each of these with Cream.
3. Using the sharp point of Canary Yellow apply the yellow pollen dots through the center of the flower.
4. Using Tuscan Red apply the fine filament lines that connect the dots to the stamen.

Leaves

• High Light/ Pale Sage
• Medium/ Moss Green
• Dark/ Kelp Green
• Accents/ Pumpkin Orange & Denim Blue

Leaves

1. Using the linear motion base in the center of each side of the leaf with Pale Sage. This will not be applied to the outside edge or to the center vein. To the side of the graphite line that shows placement of the center vein apply a line of Pale Sage. Apply the stem line with Pale Sage. Linear motion is a back-and-forth line using the back point of the pencil. Hold the pencil at a slight angle, not straight up and down.
2. Using the linear motion base in the remainder of the leaf with Moss Green. This will overlap onto the Pale Sage. Apply a line of Moss Green to the side of the stem line.
3. Using Kelp Green apply dark value shading slightly to the sides of the center vein and on the back leaf where it’s a dark value.
4. Apply an accent of Denim Blue in the dark value areas. Blue is the complement of Orange and will assist in unifying all the colors.
5. Apply an accent of Pumpkin Orange on the outer edges of the leaves. Apply very lightly!

Final Finish Up

If you are doing the flowers on the other sides of the box protect from spray.

1. Using Krylon Workable Fixatif spray onto the pencil to set the pencils to the paper. This will also aid in keeping this side clean while you pencil the other sides.
2. Spray from all four directions. The top, bottom and each side so that the spray settles into the hills and valleys of the paper.
3. Allow to dry several hours or overnight. The surface of the hand-dyed paper will be fuzzy. Lightly sand off the nap of the paper with extra-fine grit wet-n-dry sandpaper. Use the sandpaper dry – DO NOT WET. Regular sandpaper DOES NOT work the same.
4. Apply two coats of JW’s matte finish varnish. Apply two coats only if using the matte finish; sometimes a third coat will appear cloudy.

Previous free lessons can be downloaded from these links:

http://janellejohnson.com/news_july09.html

http://janellejohnson.com/freepattern_june09.php

http://janellejohnson.com/freepattern_may09.php