5 Reasons Why I Love Colored Pencils
This week’s post is an affectionate thank you to my colored pencils.
Here’s why I love them so much!
#1 Colored Pencils Add Magic to Everyday Moments
Colored pencils are quick and easy for everyday use. Whenever I write, I can quickly pick a few pencils and color a part of the text or make a small illustration.
Planners, shopping lists, and any notes become more cheerful when I add some colored pencils to them.
#2 Colored Pencils Change a Journal to a Treasure
Colored pencils are perfect for small journals. When I started my colored pencil diary last year, I wasn’t sure how long the inspiration would last. But the small size felt so easy that the pages kept coming, and I love to browse the journal often. It’s my inspiration book and one way I do “research” – search for ideas that reappear more freely in my paintings.
This spread is a part of a new class, Fun Botanicum, where we make a set of plant-inspired pages. The idea of making chapters and different types of pages in a journal is so inspiring. One small journal can be like a library that has many collections!
#3 It’s Enjoyable to Paint with Colored Pencils
After painting a series of oil paintings, I am usually exhausted. Then my pencils feel a refreshing approach to painting. When I “paint” with colored pencils, I press only lightly like holding a brush, make soft and blurry shapes, and create color mixes by layering. This way, I fly to my imagination without making a mess or worrying over things like drying time or fluency.
I feel a similar softness to using a brush when smooth hot press watercolor paper meets a wax-based pencil. Gentle strokes don’t hurt but nurture the hand, and the overall experience speaks self-love: “Be gentle, focus on the good in the world.”
#4 Colored Pencils Love Lines
I love drawing lines, and fortunately, my colored pencils love them too. I can draw straight lines, curves, continuous mesh, outline – all my pencils require is sharpening now and then!
I love the willingness of my pencils to work until they are too short for the extender. I try to treat them as well as I can, no matter how short they are and what brand they represent. Old pencils can do lines too!
#5 Colored Pencils Can Take a Break
My oil paints are like afghan hounds. They require a lot of care and attention, and they always look appalled if I stop too soon. But colored pencils are like little parakeets. They sing when I am with them but are happy to fall asleep when nothing is happening. So I can color just a bit and then leave the project to wait for the next free moment. My pencils are ok with that – Every Single Time!
For example, this week’s work was made in several sessions. Watched the news and colored some. Listened to an audiobook, and colored some. Walked by and decided to color some. Unlike my oil paints, colored pencils never complain about what I listen, and they don’t get jealous if I watch tv at the same time.
First, I didn’t intend to color the border, but then I couldn’t help myself to spend a little more time with the pencils.
Hearts make this piece a bit cutesy, but colored pencils always make me more playful than paints.
I love this system of color-coordinated boxes!
Having Good Time with Fun Botanicum
Let’s gather colored pencils and get inspired by plants, crazy lines, delicious colors, and the freedom of imagination.
Fun Botanicum begins on March 15. Sign up now!
Pop Music in Art Journal
This week – turn some pop music on and start art journaling!
Since I started working full-time as an artist in 2014, my taste for music has gone wider. Listening to different genres has enriched not only my life but also my art. Music has taken me to all kinds of visual worlds. Even one sound can bring color or a shape to mind.
I have an old book as a music-inspired art journal. I like how the variety of music is shown on its pages. Now I wanted to make a spread inspired by Asian pop.
Sometimes Music is a Human, Other Times a Machine
Asian pop music is fun to listen and very easy-going – like an acquaintance who is always ready for a visit to a candy shop and to have a light conversation about current movies.
But when I paint big paintings, I prefer music that’s more like a vehicle – no melodies, only interesting sounds that make me go deeper and deeper in concentration.
Without a repeating chorus and clear rhythm, I don’t feel the need to express the music or paint at its speed. That’s how I have become a fan of contemporary classics that I used to find too boring.
Pop Music in Art Journal – Playtime with a Friend
But this week, I wanted my friend back. I went to the Finnish radio website and turned on the newest of “Papananaaman K-Pop Show” which plays current Asian pop. My candy store was the box where I keep my red, pink, purple, and orange colored pencils.
My music-inspired pages are in the “beautiful mess” style that I show step-by-step in an art journal mini-class called Music. It’s relaxing to create step by step and not worry too much about the “proper” supplies. I played with black pens, stamping inks, and the shortest pencils.
When I create canvas paintings, I use oil paints, but acrylics are great for this kind of messy play.
The spread started as red, but I then introduced a wider range of candy colors gradually. This mono-tone approach is great when you want to keep things simple first, and then splash the colors in.
I like the candy colors and the informal look of the finished spread – pop music in an art journal!
I showed the spread to my Blythe dolls and they also gave their approval: “If that’s how you see Asian pop, we can live with that.”
Maybe these dolls have made me listen to Asian pop in the first place! One thing so often leads to another.
Music in Art Journal – Step by Step!
The art journal mini-class Music is now available as an individual class. But you have to be quick – it will go away on Feb 7! >> Buy here!
Start a Music-Inspired Art Journal!
In 2020, I made a mini-class for a collaboration project that included several artists. Each picked a topic that raised the feeling of gratitude.
I chose music. I had just seen a documentary about a musician called Avicii. He was a young Swedish boy who got into composing electronic music and, within a few years, became a world star. His story ended too soon, though.
This month, I read a biography about Avicii. The book had more explanations for why the life that everybody envied was unbearable. But still, his music feels pure and bright.
When I hear A Sky Full of Stars, I am a little girl on a cold Tuesday evening in Eastern Finland. After participating in an icon painting group, I walked down the snowy hill looking up. The starry sky was blue-black, I realized. Not black like for those who glance carelessly or blue like for those whose skies were always blue. Working with colors had made the world look more beautiful.
What song takes you back in time?
What colors do you find there?
Avicii composed dance music but was inspired by folk songs and old pop music that his father used to play. He open-mindedly mixed different styles and genres.
Which things can you bring from the past to refresh your art?
Which ideas from your queue could you combine?
Avicii started a song from a few sounds and short melodies and then layered them together.
Pick a pen and scribble something small along with your favorite music, then layer colors on the top!
So, I suggest starting a music-inspired art journal!
I can now offer the class from the collaboration of 2020 individually. Only 15 EUR (about 17 USD), but be quick, the class is available for purchase only today to Feb 7!
Wild Botanical Art – Create with Colored Pencils and Watercolors
This week, I created wild botanical art. I drew plants with delicate details like in botanical illustrations, but with a few differences. My plants are not any real species, and the jungle where they grow is more like my inner world at its best, not a real location on the planet.
Watercolors First!
Before putting colored pencils into work, I made some backgrounds with watercolors. I had very smooth watercolor paper – hot press quality. My friend Eeva Nikunen recommended Arches Hot Press paper that she has used for detailed graphite drawings. It’s a bit pricey but so smooth and lovely for colored pencils too. However, any smooth watercolor paper would work with this technique.
I used a lot of water for the first layer and made random splotches with a spraying bottle. This kind of wild watercolor painting is fun, but when I tried to pick one of the four experiments for colored pencils, I found the results uninspiring. So I asked myself what kinds of nature’s shapes or colors would I want to see more, and answered: “All kinds of hays inspire me a lot!”
Love for Sharp-Shaped Botanicals
We have lots of house plants that have sharp leaves.
And when I walk in nature, I always look for hays and how light hits them.
So, then after some drying time, I made thin lines that went wildly here and there.
After the lines, I found the green one on the bottom left very inviting, so I chose that for coloring.
Coloring Freely and Wildly
Colored pencils work well on the watercolor background and smooth paper. It was enjoyable to color freely. I didn’t follow the shapes or lines painted in watercolor but created new layers.
I have started to store my colored pencils in shallow plastic boxes grouped in color families. This way, every pencil gets seen, and the differences between tones are easy to identify.
Should Plant People Draw Plants?
My husband and I are plant people. Our home is filled with house plants and we have all kinds of plants in our garden. It has been quite a job to save the plants from our new puppy Saima!
Plants have also always been present in my paintings. But recently, I have thought that maybe I could focus more on them with colored pencils too. It often feels that I come home when I am inspired by plants and travel abroad when I am creating something else. I want to challenge myself out of my comfort zone, but if there’s a strong resonation, like a secret companionship, should I listen to it?
More Wild Botanical Art – Playing Mode On!
It was so much fun to work on this project that I wanted to do more. So, I colored these small scraps – a fruit and a leaf!
And then it was playing time. How wild can this go?
Create Wild Botanical Art – Five Tips!
- Start by creating a wilderness that calls you.
- Color layers of random shapes and lines. When you see something that could be a plant, turn it into one!
- Don’t worry about identifying the plants – treat them as rarities that only you can find!
- Make detailed a little more detailed – botanical art goes crazy with details!
- Revamp – Add some plants from your box of joy!
- Bonus tip: Nature is full of curves, so make sure you also have some.
Botanical Art by Ernst Haeckel
Many years ago, a blog reader mentioned Ernst Haeckel’s botanical art. Since then, I have admired his work. Here’s a part of his illustration from 1904. Lots of greens spiced with warm colors and so many details!
Mine is not nearly as sharp and detailed as Haeckel’s, but I approve it anyway. Plants have different personalities, and so do their interpretations!
Tell me, do you like drawing plants? What kinds of plants especially?