June 6th 2014 Demonstration

 

Super-realism with coloured pencils

 

Those who may not associate the medium of coloured pencils with serious art should check out the work of local artist Linda Hampson.  Linda was demonstrating how she uses the oil based pencils to create her super detailed paintings of flora and fauna to our meeting in the Institute on Friday June 6th.  A recent winner of the “Derwent” prize from the Society of Botanical Artists, she explained that working in such detail is very time consuming but that what some may regard as tedium, for her comes with a therapeutic effect.  

 

All of the members and guests at the meeting were highly impressed as Linda applied her technique to the depiction of a small bird in almost photo realism, first laying in the basic colour, then burnishing and finally refining and tweaking the detail to achieve the desired effect.  Everyone was particularly fascinated by how she made eyes and water droplets so realistic and sharp that they appeared three dimensional.

 

In thanking Linda at the end of the meeting, Carole-Ann Pitfield expressed her amazement at what could be achieved with such a portable and convenient to use medium.  You can even start with just ten basic colours, but as she explained she had found herself, you will soon want more as you find out how rewarding and addictive the use of the medium can become.