JamieWG
10-06-2002, 02:52 PM
Dear Jan and Angela and others who have expressed an interest in Prisamcolor and solvents,
Thank you for your comments about "Swan at Sunset". I don't claim to be an expert in this by any stretch, but here's how you can get started working with this technique:
Materials:
Prismacolor pencils (I'm sure it works with other waxy pencils too, but I haven't tried other brands)
Good rag paper (watercolor paper works great, also Strathmore 500 bristol)---of course you can experiment on anything!
Turpeniod
Q-tips (Rite Aid drug store sells pointed Q-tips that are awesome for detail work!)
Basically, you want to work dark to light. Once your basic colors are in, and are fairly deep, dip a Q-tip in turpenoid and start "painting" on top of the pencil work. Go over the light areas first, so you won't contaminate them with the dark colors. Try different strokes--little script Os and Ls work for me. You'll find this will cut your time enormously on filling in big sections, and works especially well with areas that really need to blend, like skies and water, animal fur, fields of grass, etc. For very small detail sections, you can use tortillions. For very large areas, tampons work well!
The color intensifies like it does in burnishing, but the tooth of the paper is unharmed, so you can still do more work on it! Even more important is the fact that the turpenoid strips off the wax from the color. This enables you to layer more colors and detail work on top of the turped layers. If the color isn't what you wanted, just add more of what you want and turp it again. It's so much fun! :-)
Because the wax is stripped, you can even use white over a darker background that's had turp applied. Try a little test area of deep blue, turp it, and put white on top. You'll be amazed. That's how I did the swan's reflection in the water.
Caution: This can spoil you forever, and you probably will not want to resume traditional CP work. ;-)
People have asked me why I don't use watercolor crayons and pencils instead if I want to "paint". Well, I do sometimes when I don't want to deal with the solvents. But the Prismacolor/turp gives richer color. The turp can also be used with waxy crayons like the Neocolor II, and it works great. I haven't tried it with the water-resistant crayons. Has anybody else out there done that?
I also find it helpful to keep a scrap of the same paper as the one I'm working on next to me to do tests of colors blended with turp before putting them on my piece.
Pieces done with this technique sometimes are ineligible for colored pencil shows, so be sure to take that into consideration. Some works I use turp for, and some I don't; it all depends on whether I feel it will save me significant time or add a special quality to the piece.
I hope this helps. Let me know how it goes. Have fun!
Best wishes,
Jamie
Thank you for your comments about "Swan at Sunset". I don't claim to be an expert in this by any stretch, but here's how you can get started working with this technique:
Materials:
Prismacolor pencils (I'm sure it works with other waxy pencils too, but I haven't tried other brands)
Good rag paper (watercolor paper works great, also Strathmore 500 bristol)---of course you can experiment on anything!
Turpeniod
Q-tips (Rite Aid drug store sells pointed Q-tips that are awesome for detail work!)
Basically, you want to work dark to light. Once your basic colors are in, and are fairly deep, dip a Q-tip in turpenoid and start "painting" on top of the pencil work. Go over the light areas first, so you won't contaminate them with the dark colors. Try different strokes--little script Os and Ls work for me. You'll find this will cut your time enormously on filling in big sections, and works especially well with areas that really need to blend, like skies and water, animal fur, fields of grass, etc. For very small detail sections, you can use tortillions. For very large areas, tampons work well!
The color intensifies like it does in burnishing, but the tooth of the paper is unharmed, so you can still do more work on it! Even more important is the fact that the turpenoid strips off the wax from the color. This enables you to layer more colors and detail work on top of the turped layers. If the color isn't what you wanted, just add more of what you want and turp it again. It's so much fun! :-)
Because the wax is stripped, you can even use white over a darker background that's had turp applied. Try a little test area of deep blue, turp it, and put white on top. You'll be amazed. That's how I did the swan's reflection in the water.
Caution: This can spoil you forever, and you probably will not want to resume traditional CP work. ;-)
People have asked me why I don't use watercolor crayons and pencils instead if I want to "paint". Well, I do sometimes when I don't want to deal with the solvents. But the Prismacolor/turp gives richer color. The turp can also be used with waxy crayons like the Neocolor II, and it works great. I haven't tried it with the water-resistant crayons. Has anybody else out there done that?
I also find it helpful to keep a scrap of the same paper as the one I'm working on next to me to do tests of colors blended with turp before putting them on my piece.
Pieces done with this technique sometimes are ineligible for colored pencil shows, so be sure to take that into consideration. Some works I use turp for, and some I don't; it all depends on whether I feel it will save me significant time or add a special quality to the piece.
I hope this helps. Let me know how it goes. Have fun!
Best wishes,
Jamie