Newtown Creek, NYC

[MarcF]

Newtown Creek
11 x 14
Prismacolor (mainly) Colored Pencils

C&C welcome.
Before you say anything, I know I'm not getting the color depth that I could/should be with Prismacolor. I'm learning. It's kind of large for me, for a colored pencil painting. Watercolor, it's a snap to cover a large area like a sky, or a tributary of the East River. It's for detail work. I know. I know. I'll work smaller with cps from here on.
But after saying all that, I rather like it. I took the reference pic on a bike ride from work to home.

[Pingpongfan]

I like it too. It is moody. Feels like early morning before the sun has put in an appearance and humanity is mostly still asleep. Only you and the river.
Vena

[MarcF]

Thank you - it's actually about 5:30 pm - on a bike ride home from work in Long Island City. But yes, darkness was just setting in (as opposed to receding) but the light level and the mood and feel were about the same as early morning.

[MaryFlora]

I like the industrial look, sense of movement, and your color choices. Cool!

That is a good size piece! Colored pencils can require large dollops of patience!

Mary Flora

[marksmomagain]

I like the industrial look, also. My favorite part is the water

[clairmilanovich]

Marc -- this way of handling CPs is the most likely one for making art as opposed to illustration -- CP is good for both, but somehow, and for the most part, the illustrators seem to have commandeered the medium --



As I've mentioned elsewhere, there are two main paths in CP work -- textured and non-textured -- this clearly is textured and I think very well done --


the above comments are spot on --

[clairmilanovich]

The more I look at this -- the more I would love to own it -- the line work is incredibly powerful and specific - you need not apologize for anything -- I wish I'd done i!
Clair

[clairmilanovich]

OOPS -- correction to above post (made before coffee) -- I meant to say PAINTING as opposed to ILLUSTRATION-- duh -- both are "art"


AND, AND The more I look at this painting -- the more I would love to own it -- the line work is incredibly powerful and specific - you need not apologize for anything -- I wish I'd done i!
Clair

[MarcF]

Wow I just saw your comments, Clair.
You’ve made my day/week/month/year.
I can’t wait to get back to my drawing board and continue my exploration of this fantastic medium.

[ocmd123]

I like the ethereal feel. And yes, going big with cp takes time and patience.

[Delofasht]

Good to see you over here Marc. Colored Pencil definitely teaches patience and how to improve pressure control. It will translate very well into your brush control in other mediums as well.

Paper or other surface choice makes a big difference into the kind of result one gets and even the approach. As an example, I work on paper sometimes, but often Ampersand Pastelbord as one of my surfaces of choice (or a prepared hardboard with my own priming). With my surface, it eats the pencils, so I don't sharpen at all, just rotate my pencil to an edge when I need to do details.

[MarcF]

Hey Delo - good to see you here too!
I just read your comment about sharpening as you draw, and I'm just figuring that out. There's so much to learn. I love the freedom of pencils, compared with all the restrictions of oil. Not that you can't go crazy with oil too, but you've got solvents and oils and paint and wet brushes. You have to be careful. But with pencil, the biggest danger is breaking a point and not finding it.
So thanks for comment!
I'm working on a color chart and organizer for Prismacolors.
It is absolutely essential to me - I wonder what others do.
Will post about it when finished.

[Delofasht]

My first love was colored pencil, I still keep them available and really enjoy working in colored pencil. I have a few finished works in them that I have been quite pleased with. In the beginning I spent tons of time learning color harmony and relationships in this media, it has informed every decision I make in other media. Also, colored pencil can have brushes, mediums, and solvents as well, but it isn’t necessary at all for creating a beautiful finished piece.

I use walnut oil as a solvent for colored pencil on rigid surfaces to create many of the same kind of effects as oil paint. Numerous pieces of my work have been confused with other media, you can see some in the colored pencil library here where I started a thread on tips and tricks for colored pencil.

I found that greens and purples mix really well together to make darks and neutrals and learned about glazing color interactions that I use in other media here in colored pencil.

[clairmilanovich]

Marc-
The most interesting/useful /chart/swatch page I made was all greens from all CP sets on one page or one double-page spread. And then with the reds, browns, blues, violets.