If you use wax-based colored pencils or wax pastels and artist crayons, you're familiar with wax bloom, that cloudy, white film that forms on the artwork. Don't wipe it off with a cloth or you'll risk smearing the pigment.
I have a simple solution; just blow warm air over the surface with a hair dryer or a heat gun. If you're not in a hurry, let the heat of the Icarus board do the job for you. When you're done with your drawing, final fixative or varnish will take care of wax bloom for ever.
In this video I show you the development of one blue pebble from my current work in progress, a 40" x 60" canvas. It's done on the Icarus Painting Board using Luminance colored pencils, Prismacolor colored pencils, Neocolor artist crayons, and Neocolor wax pastels.
Here's a video on how I prime canvas for drawing media (colored pencil, artist crayon, wax pastel, and oil pastel). Primed canvas is now my favorite surface to use with the Icarus board, perfect for a glass-less framing presentation. https://www.youtube.com/user/icarusart
In this video Denise Howard, a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, demonstrates a variety of techniques and materials used to create beautiful realistic colored pencil drawings.
At minute 18:30 Denise kindly talks about the Icarus Drawing Board and how it affects wax-based colored pencil. This video is very informative to all colored pencil artists, from beginners to advanced.
This is the second work in a new series of small art depicting some of my favorite subjects. The purpose of this series is to produce more regularly while also working on large pieces. Working small allows me to be more experimental with the Icarus Drawing Board. With each artwork I plan to share something interesting about how I made it.
Here you can see my set-up. I like to have everything close-by; the pencil tray sits on top of my Icarus board together with the Swifter Duster and the cotton towel. Taping the paper to the glass can be very helpful especially when burnishing on the warm zone.
This yellow timer above is my constant companion. It helps me be more productive and more aware of interruptions. Once I got used to it, starting it and stopping it have become second nature.
To the right of my drawing board I keep two sharpeners: the X-Acto School Pro is electrical and works well with different diameter pencils; the Derwent is battery operated and, even though is made for pencils, I've used it to sharpen crayons for many months with no ill effects. The two sharpeners sit inside an acrylic photo frame together with a thick, moist sponge where I clean my pencils after I sharpen them.
The video above is a slide show of River Pebbles, No. 2. Please come back for my next blog post: River Pebbles, No. 2 - A Closer Look, where I will show you a detailed step-by-step of the project.
I'm thrilled to announce that my artwork Symbiosis won First Place in the San Clemente Art Gallery Winter Judged Show, Mixed Media category.
I'm also very happy that River Odyssey was juried into "Explore This! 8", the Colored Pencil Society of America's online exhibition. This annual exhibition, which opens on February 1st and runs until January 31st, 2013, is for colored pencil artwork that includes some element or technique that is unacceptable for the International Exhibition. This permits artists to experiment with various mediums and surfaces as well as three-dimensional, collage and relief artworks.
I have just uploaded a slide show of River Pebbles, No. 1 to Icarus Art's YouTube Channel. You can view it below.
For my workshop attendees this is a great opportunity to review the techniques learned in Santa Clara, California. For everybody else it's like taking a workshop for free. All voiced-over video clips are available in high definition and come with a downloadable supply list, an outline of the project, and an image of the finished project.
I hope you will enjoy practicing and/or learning the Icarus technique. You are always welcomed to post comments and ask questions either on this blog or on our YouTube Channel.
For my workshop attendees this is a great opportunity to review the techniques learned last summer. For everybody else it's like taking a workshop for free. All voiced-over video clips are available in high definition and come with a downloadable supply list, an outline of the project, and an image of the finished mussel shell.
I hope you all enjoy practicing and/or learning the Icarus technique. You are always welcome to post comments and ask questions either on this blog or on YouTube.
