Studio Organization - Colored Pencils

Colored Pencils
Artists are notorious for having lots of art supplies. I'm guilty as charged. It is a necessity. It is a passion. It is like baking supplies for a foodie. And to make matters worse, I work in a variety of media...from colored pencils to pen and ink to acrylic paint to watercolor paint to oil paint to clay.

So I am constantly fighting to keep things organized and within reach at the same time.  So I thought I would post a few photos of a project that I've done to 'try' to get my studio organized a little.  But keep in mind that this is a work in progress.  One step at a time, right?  So, one side of my studio is devoted to drawing. The other is devoted to clay and paint...the 'messy' media.  Today I just want to talk about the colored pencils on the drawing side of the studio. In case you cannot tell, Prismacolor Colored Pencils are my favorite. I have a lot. I have more stored in containers in my desk.


Organizing Colored Pencils

Problem: Keeping said colored pencils organized (in one place) enough that I can find the colors when I need them and make good use of 'small nubs' of colored pencils.
Solution:
Buy (2) 2' length White PVC Pipes
( I used 3" diameter, cut to preferred size to hold the pencils)
** I cut 5 pieces approximately 4 1/4" each with the remaining piece being 2 1/2" for pencil nubs.

NOTE** You may want to get more, or longer, PVC and cut all pieces the same size.  But I always have little nubs of colored pencils that I want to keep up with.  I use them to glue onto new pencils!  But that is another story!

(2) 22"  length 1x4 painted white boards (I cut them to fit the number of pieces of PVC I wanted AND to fit the top of a bookshelf that sits beside by drawing table. You may want to cut one wider board, instead of two to fit onto a table or desktop.)  I wanted 2 separate boards so I could move them around later. Also, I already had the wood pieces painted.
*E-6000 Glue (or any strong glue) to adhere the PVC to the boards, making sure the black words printed on the pipes are facing each other for a cleaner look.

I had my husband cut the PVC pipe on his electric saw.  Then I placed them on the board, into position, the way I wanted them to be glued.  I positioned them so that the 'unattractive' words that come printed on them would be facing each other.  Then I started by picking up the end piece and spread glue onto the bottom of the PVC and placed it back on the board.  I continued with that until I finished with all six pieces. Then I started on the second board.  I let it dry overnight before I organized my sharpened colored pencils by color groups and placed them on the bookshelf next to my drawing board.

And for current projects,
there is just enough room at the end of the two boards to hold two large mugs that will hold the colored pencils that I will keep while working on a project.   I think this will work pretty well for me! I've been searching for some ideas for keeping up with my pencils and found some ideas on YouTube, but I recently went to a colored pencil workshop and the instructor, Nancy Charles, had a similar version of this.  So I modified it to fit my needs and came up with this.  So, thank you, Nancy, for the inspiration!

Beth♥

Pretty Leaves are Going Fast

This week as I was outside walking the dog around the yard, I was also looking for pretty fall color in the yard.  This year another red maple in our yard started turning pretty red colors that I had not seen on this particular tree before.  This tree is special to me because we planted this tree in our front yard the first fall that we moved into our house 17 years ago.  Our house was a new house, so it did not have any trees, so we wanted to have some pretty colors eventually.  My son was in first grade at the time.  He and his friend helped his dad plant the tree in the front yard.  After several years, the tree did not grow very much. The tree is a Red Maple and is supposed to grow quickly, but it was not thriving like it should.  So we decided to dig it up and move it about 30 feet towards the backyard.  The tree must have liked its new spot, because it started to grow and thrive.  Now, 17 years later, the Red Maple has grown into this tree. It decided to show us its pretty red leaves this year. But they are falling quickly. They are covering the ground now.  But even on the ground they are pretty. I may have to  preserve some of them in a drawing or painting or maybe even a clay design.  I'm still hoping for a repeat of last years color from another tree in the backyard, but the cold weather last week may have changed mother nature's plans this year.

Beth  ♥     

Fall Palette of Color...

The colors of fall are so pretty.  Fall and Spring are my favorite seasons. They both are so colorful and I love color!  I created a hanging tile with fall colors that includes a little owl.  It is now listed in my Etsy shop: My Etsy Shop

I have also been watching for changing leaves for photos. Here are a few photos of what I have taken, but it is still early. But they are changing quickly.  I've been taking Sophie for some short walks to see some of the colors in the neighborhood.  I'm sure I will post more over the next few weeks.  Enjoy!
Beth  ♥