Learning Through Inspiration with Joan Bardee

In today’s episode of Learning Through Inspiration, it’s me v. colored pencils! They may look innocent, and remind you of your easy kindergarten days of coloring with crayons, but do not be fooled. These sharpened bits of color:

*Break, (even the ones that aren’t supposed to break, are sitting on my desk broken),

*Are hard to blend,

*Don’t work well on smooth cardstock, and

*Need lots of sharpening.

On the other hand:

*I already own them! (you probably do too),

*They work on dark cardstock, and

*You can get a good workout coloring with them!

I’ve used color pencils before. In fact, my first Learning Through Inspiration post uses colored pencils on colored cardstock. But I have much to learn. So, I’m continuing my study of the masterful Heather Telford by focusing on her use of colored pencils. (By the way, Heather lives in Canada and uses “coloured” rather than “colored.” Since I’m in the US, I’m sticking to the US version of the word, but I rather like Heather’s version!).

I’ve found by studying others’ cards I can figure out what they are doing that appeals to me and apply it to my own cardmaking. Let’s see what happened when I tried to learn something about colored pencils from Heather…

HEATHER’S CARDS

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HEATHER’S CARDS

*Black cardstock!! I almost always use a white card base and I just love this unusual look.

*Look at the birdcages in Heather’s first card. Heather managed to color them with pencils and still have a lot of areas highlighted with white and light blue – and she did that on black cardstock!

*And, look at the poppy in the second card! It’s stunning! Hard to believe that Heather achieved that rich smooth color with pencils.

*Heather matted her main image with cardstock in her first card, and, for her second card, ink-blended a mat. I need to use mats more often.

*Love the interesting die treatment on the top of the black card. I don’t have that die but it is a great way to add a sentiment.

MY CARDS

WHAT I LEARNED

*You need the right paper to color with pencils. Smooth paper – such as Neenah Solar White – doesn’t work well with colored pencils, at least not for me. The paper needs some “tooth” for the pencils to grab. (My second card uses a pale gray cardstock, not white.)

*It’s worth the time and supplies to test your pencils (and embossing powder) on the cardstock you will use. Colored pencils that are close in color will look very different on the same cardstock. And the same pencils will give a completely different look on different dark cardstocks. I wasted a lot of time and supplies before I figured this out.

*Continue to sharpen your pencils as you color!

*Heather didn’t use a blending solution and neither did I. I didn’t have Gamsol, or any other blender, and am too cheap to buy some (I try to spend most of my crafting $$ on stamps, dies, and stencils). So, I colored most of each leaf or flower with a lighter pencil, added shading with a darker pencil, and then colored again with the lighter pencil over most of the image. This technique worked better on larger images, like the leaves in the second card.

*Coloring very small images with colored pencils is particularly difficult.

*Did I get the same results as Heather? No — I don’t have Heather’s talented hands. But my technique improved.

*For my first card, I chose a dark green card base simply because I never use green cardstock and learning is a great time to experiment (a little nerve wracking experimenting on the Penny Black blog, but I’m having fun). Speaking of fun, aren’t the flowers from Flower Fantasy, used in both cards, gorgeous?

*Matted the colored panel onto gold cardstock and then onto a white card base. If I had to do it again, I’d make the stamped panel smaller in order to show off more of the gold mat. I thought about it, but I had spent so much time coloring those flowers that I hated to cut off more of the design. That was probably not the best decision.

*For my second card, I wanted to try a lighter card base and my attempts to color on white were dismal. So, I paired a pale gray cardstock with a combination of red and pink pencils. Decided to trim the panel and adhere to a white card base without any additional matting. I’m still working on getting those layers perfectly lined up!

 

MOOD WHEN DONE: While I wasn’t able to achieve the smooth look that Heather achieved, I enjoyed using my pencils and might take them out again soon. “Might” because it took forever to make these cards.

On the other hand (HA), I love the look of colored pencils on darker cardstock. Add a few jewels, and that top card reminds me of rich Indian fabric. However, if I want a light card base, I’ll probably stick with watercolors or alcohol markers.

I continue to be so grateful to Jill Foster and Penny Black for providing me with some gorgeous stamps and dies, and the opportunity to share here on the Penny Black blog. And I’m grateful to Heather for providing so much inspiration!

Finally, thanks to all of you who have taken the time to comment. I appreciate those comments very much! I’ll be back with more Heather Telford inspired work.

for the products featured on Joan’s cards above

Card One Supplies: Penny Black Flower Fantasy, 30-565; Penny Black Sympathy Sentiments, 30-582; green, white, and gold cardstocks; Wow Metallic Gold Rich Superfine Embossing Powder; Versamark ink; Prismacolor Pencils: True Blue, Aquamarine, and Non Photo Blue; gold jewels; time.

Card Two Supplies: Penny Black Flower Fantasy; 30-565; Penny Black Butterfly Garden, 30-558; gray and white cardstocks; Prismacolor Pencils: Process Red, Crimson Red, and Pink Rose; Versafine Onyx ink; clear jewels.

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