Jethro In Colored Pencils

My 5th Jethro portrait is created with colored pencils on a white Claybord™ panel. Each of my nine portraits of Jethro presents a different art medium on a 3.5" x 3.5" Claybord™ Tile, created and manufactured by Ampersand Art Supply. For this painting I used Prismacolor colored pencils, which have a soft core. The Claybord surface is ultra-smooth, unlike many papers made for color pencils which have a "tooth." The lead in colored pencils holds pigments in a wax base, so the softer cores are due to more soft wax than hard wax.

I rarely use colored pencils, but I had a good stash of Prismacolors in a variety of colors. I'm trying to use art materials I already have (many collecting lots of dust) for this multi-media series. The Prismacolor pencils worked wonderfully on the Claybord surface. I was having a hard time coloring at the very edges of the small square of Claybord, so I took another panel, flipped it upside down, butt it right up to my Claybord and drew my pencil strokes right over the edge easily.

As with many of my pet portraits, I completed my favorite part first - the eyes. They always make the art come to life for me. I loved how I could layer the pencil colors to get the yellow-green tones and touches of orange. I continued layering colors on the fur, stroking in the direction it grows. Light or dark colors can be applied over each other, and I used the white pencil in many areas, to lighten, soften and blend. I used the pencil sharpener and the sandpaper pad, both shown in the photo above, to clean off the white tip when other colors left a residue. I also used an old-time typewriter eraser, which has a slightly sandy grit, to lift color off, revealing the white clay surface of the Claybord. As with the white pencil, I used the sharpener and sanding pad to shape the eraser into a clean fine point, which helped with the details.

I've often created artwork in a square format and then turned it 45 degrees on the diagonal for display. This just adds a bit of uniqueness and interest. In this case it actually allowed me more width so I could enlarge the eyes - and give them dramatic emphasis - more than if I kept the panel squared-up. When I mount my nine Jethro portraits on one background for framing, I plan to position this one in the center.

Read about my upcoming Claybord presentation below.

Claybord Art Tiles are the same white kaolin clay-coated, ultra smooth, highly absorbent surface as original Claybord but in unique small sizes. This surface and size is amazingly versatile, for a variety of painting applications, jewelry making, collage, coasters, magnets, ornaments, scrapbooking, embellishments, and much more! I love Claybord for the unlimited techniques is allows: painting, drawing, etching, erasing, reworking, glueing, stamping, inking, transfering images, applying skins and more!