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♥

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

"Butterflower"
Colored Pencil and Ink

Beth S. Macre ©2013

My love of clay and paint and colored pencil and ink, can be really confusing to some...even me! But it can also be a blessing to me!  I never get bored with what I do, because there is always another project or media that is waiting for me to play with!   But sometimes I'm just not feeling the clay work, or sometimes I just don't have the time to really get much of a painting done, so I will work on something small to just relax in front of the television.  I enjoy the variety!

I have been working on several different projects lately. Some of them are commissions that I cannot post photos of, just yet, so I will share some of what I have been working on, on the side. I like to experiment with new ideas for my online sales and for future art festivals.  Right now I have one festival scheduled for the fall.  My little clay houses are the biggest seller in my booth at the art festivals. But I also like to include other items for customers who may not be interested in little houses.  So I've been creating clay tiles and acrylic paintings.  But I need more variety of clay pieces.  So I am working on some functional pieces to try out at the Norcross festival.  I have decided to make some small bowls and small cups with whimsical designs painted on them.  Here is one of my first experiments.  I like how it turned out, so I will definitely be making more.  Hmmm...I think I need a larger kiln!

Beth  ♥    

I Love...

... Artsy people. Crafty people. Creative people....

...Artists

I clearly have a little prejudice here.  Being an artist, of course I'm going to love other artists. Artists sometimes get a bad wrap about being quirky and weird.  Not all artists are quirky and weird.  Maybe we do think differently than the non-artsy type of people.  And yes, there are some artists out there...no literally... out there!  But that's okay.  But most of the artists that I know are very real, down to earth, and very nice people.  I am going to spotlight a few of my favorite artists during my February month of 'Things I Love". 

Cindy Haase
"Sunshine State"

I have met many artists online over the years, many of whom I have had the pleasure of meeting in person.  So today's post about things I love will be spotlighting one of my favorite living artsy people that I have met in person.  Not only is she talented, but she is one of the nicest people I've met. And she is very generous to share what she has learned along her art journey in one of her blogs, What are you Really Selling?

So I want to introduce to you,  Cindy Haase.  You can click on her name to see her blog about her own art, Cynthia Haase Fine Art.  She is one busy lady. She sells her daily paintings on Daily Paintworks  and on Etsy. She is also the President of the Colored Pencil Society of America.

I asked Cindy to answer three questions for me and she was sweet enough to take time out of her busy schedule.  Thank you to Cindy!

Question #1
What motivates you as an artist?
Cindy:  I'm motivated by mental health! Painting is what I look forward to in the morning, and if I can't find the time to paint for a couple of days I start feeling very "grumpy". So I think its an emotional release and a means of expressing my feelings.

Question #2
What is your favorite medium/media?
Cindy:  My favorite medium right now is oil, but I've also been in love with pastel and colored pencil at other times in my career. I love the process and discipline of daily painting in oil. Coming up with something new to paint all the time pushes my creativity, even though I mostly paint fruits and vegetables. It's not so much the subject but what the shapes, lighting, color and edges can become.


Question #3
What advice do you have for artists just starting out?
Cindy:  Same advice that was given to me. Do the work! Learn all you can about color, edges, shapes, texture, and value, and make sure you are constantly working on your drawing skills. Explore!


So be sure and check out Cindy's art blog, Etsy shop, Daily paintworks auctions, and start collecting her art now while they are still extremely affordable!  

Beth  ♥

Happy Customers and Colored Pencil Artists

Recently I've completed a few custom clay house orders and I am working on another.  Even though I post a lot of examples of my clay houses and my owl paintings lately, I am also a colored pencil artist.  I have had the pleasure of meeting some excellent, award winning, artists through the CPSA national organization.  Recently, Ranjini Venkatachari, a colored pencil artist ordered this custom clay house (Art Studio) from me.  I've been familiar with Ranjini's work through an online forum for a few years, but got to meet her last year at the CPSA convention.  She is a very nice person, as are most colored pencil artists!   Anyway, she wanted a little house that looked like an art studio, like the one in my Etsy shop, but personalized and in her colors. I also added the Heart Magnet with her initial, because she just celebrated a birthday.  So she received them in the mail the other day and she blogged about it and posted a picture of them in her blog. I added an easel with a sign with 'Ranjini V's" studio on the tiny painting, where I used the primary colors that she used in one of her colored pencil paintings that she had posted online.  After I mailed the package to her, I found out that the painting that I was looking at had been featured in an article in a Professional artist magazine!  I thought that was so cool! And she is, not only featured in one magazine this month, but two!  Her art is also on the cover of the June 2012 issue of Ann Kullberg's CP magazine.
So, I just wanted to give Ranjini a big thank you for both, ordering one of my HeartHomes and for blogging about it!

Beth ♥