Ann's Colored Pencil News & Stuff!

This time around, I decided to open it up to one and all. 

There is gorgeous colored pencil work out there from emerging artists, complete unknowns, and from those too timid (or intimidated) to enter the big shows.  To those of you who recognize that timid artist in you...let me tell you something I learned a long, long time ago

CP Treasures Volume II - Colored Pencil Masterworks from Around the Globe

The first time around, inclusion in the book was by invitation only.  Around 18 months ago, I created an email to send to around 100 CP artists around the world whose work I admired, or who had earned CPSA Signature Membership, inviting them to submit work for a new colored pencil compilation book.  I needed 80 of them to respond. ... View more
Are you the proud owner of one of our digital download kits, like the new
Silver Reflections Kit?

Having trouble seeing the details of the drawing?  Then you're not taking full advantage of our downloadable kits...because the PDF kit images can be enlarged a great deal so you can see every single detail, while losing very little resolution.

Make sure you are viewing the In-Depth Kit in Adobe Acrobat and not in your browser! If it doesn't say Adobe Reader at the very top of the page when you're viewing one of our digital kits, then you're reading it in your browser.  Look for this icon (right) to know that you are reading it in Adobe Reader.

Every Single Detail...

Are you the proud owner of one of our digital download kits, like the new Silver Reflections Kit? Having trouble seeing the details of the drawing?  Then you're not taking full advantage of our downloadable kits...because the PDF kit images can be enlarged a great deal so you can see every single detail, while losing very little resolution. Make sure... View more
Oh so cool!

I'm passing on an email I received this morning from our local CPSA Chapter President, Pam Belcher, because it's exciting news!

Pam wrote:

While at the CPSA convention in July, I learned about this upcoming very exciting online exhibit opportunity. ARTSPECTATIONS!

NEW - CPSA Online Show, ArtSpectations!

Oh so cool! I'm passing on an email I received this morning from our local CPSA Chapter President, Pam Belcher, because it's exciting news! Pam wrote: While at the CPSA convention in July, I learned about this upcoming very exciting online exhibit opportunity. ARTSPECTATIONS!  It will be so fun for everyone, and especially wonderful for artists who do not have... View more
Just a quick note...if you live anywhere near the Seattle, Washington area, don't miss the opening of the Seattle CPSA Show on September 7th!

Oh...and by the way, guess who's giving the program for our next CPSA chapter meeting on September 14th? Me!

The program title is: The Pre-Drawing Process of Creating a Beautiful Portrait"

Falling for Colored Pencil

Falling for Color - Seattle District Chapter 207 Show Just a quick note...if you live anywhere near the Seattle, Washington area, don't miss the opening of the Seattle CPSA Show on September 7th! Oh...and by the way, guess who's giving the program for our next CPSA chapter meeting on September 14th? Me! The program title is: The Pre-Drawing Process of... View more

We were just supposed to be getting together for some yummy Thai food, but then...

Last weekend, I had dinner plans with 3 other artists.   We get together fairly often to enjoy each others company and to yack about life and art. Three of us are colored pencil artists - myself, Anne deMille Flood (who wrote Realistic Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil) and Denise MacDonald.  The fourth member, Francis Buckmaster, is an artist of all mediums. Frances emailed us all a few days prior to our get together, asking if we'd meet 2 hours early for a little adventure.  She was quite mysterious about it, which upped the interest level considerably!

I felt like we were on Project Runway!

We were just supposed to be getting together for some yummy Thai food, but then... Last weekend, I had dinner plans with 3 other artists.   We get together fairly often to enjoy each others company and to yack about life and art. Three of us are colored pencil artists - myself, Anne deMille Flood (who wrote Realistic Pet Portraits in... View more
A subscriber recently sent me an image of her "finished" piece. A day later, she sent me another image of the same artwork, saying she'd worked on it a little, and now it was really finished. Today, I got version three of her "finished" piece! 
It's been kind of cracking me up to tell you the truth...since even now, I fully expect that she'll tweak it a bit more and send me her final, final "finished" image!  Especially since I suggested a tip that has worked wonders for me in the past.

See things you haven't seen before.

A subscriber recently sent me an image of her "finished" piece. A day later, she sent me another image of the same artwork, saying she'd worked on it a little, and now it was really finished. Today, I got version three of her "finished" piece!  It's been kind of cracking me up to tell you the truth...since even now, I... View more
Manila is under water.  Flooding from monsoons have left nearly 300, 000 homeless, with a death toll of 500 and climbing. It's pretty bad...

But what does that have to do with you?

For the past two years, CP Magazine has been expertly and beautifully designed each month by Garry Dimapilis...who happens to live in Manila.

We are all connected...Flooding in the Philippines

Manila is under water.  Flooding from monsoons have left nearly 300, 000 homeless, with a death toll of 500 and climbing. It's pretty bad...But what does that have to do with you?For the past two years, CP Magazine has been expertly and beautifully designed each month by Garry Dimapilis...who happens to live in Manila. I sent Garry the raw materials... View more

As dry media artists, we all know how important our choice of paper surface is - toothier papers will grab more color, but really eat up your pencils.  Smoother papers tend to make a very even coverage harder to achieve, since every little stroke shows up.

But did you also know about the huge, huge difference printer paper can make when printing out a reference photo, or when printing one of our Digital Download Kits?

Same image printed on different printer papers.

Printer Paper Pointers

As dry media artists, we all know how important our choice of paper surface is - toothier papers will grab more color, but really eat up your pencils.  Smoother papers tend to make a very even coverage harder to achieve, since every little stroke shows up.But did you also know about the huge, huge difference printer paper makes when printing... View more