Debbi Friedman’s Blog

“Spirit Stones”, colored Pencil and Graphite, 17.5″ x 13″

I am delighted and honored to have received the CPSA Great Explorations Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Explore This! 9 Exhibition for my drawing, Spirit Stones, shown above.  This is my first acceptance into this particular CPSA show, and I was stunned to receive news in the mail of the award.  There are fifty three wonderful pieces of artwork currently on-line from February 1 through January 31, 2013 in the show, which can be seen at the CPSA website link here.  All of the art must combine mainly colored pencil with any other media desired, and it’s interesting to see what other artists are doing in this regard.

For “Spirit Stones” I wanted to play around with arranging these stones  in a tall vase and convey some humor at their predicament.  Some appear happy, some perplexed or chagrined, to be suspended in a vase of water staring out at the viewer.

The Cast of Characters

There is also a review of the EXP!9 exhibition on Katherine Tyrell’s Making a Mark blog site.  Katherine writes about the top two awards (Eileen Sorg, CPSA, CPX having received the EXPY Award and the Prismacolor Best of Show Award for her wonderful piece, “Foiled Again”):

“I took a look at the artwork before reviewing the award winners and I have to say I wasn’t at all surprised by either of the two top awards as these were both pieces which prompted me to stop and look longer.  I think it’s also very interesting to see how big an impact can be achieved through the use of understated and almost monochromatic colour – particularly when there is a level of content to the artwork which goes beyond keen observation and impeccable technique.

It’s also worth noting that both pieces contained humour – and I’m always keen to applaud those who meet the challenge of including humour in a subtle way.”

“Spirit Stones” is the second drawing I’ve done with stones that have suggestions of facial parts on their surfaces.  The first drawing, “Stone Faced”, was done for the CPSA Silent Auction last summer in Covington, KY, in conjunction with the annual convention.

Stone Faced, Colored Pencil on Canson Mi-Tientes

I’ve been collecting all sorts of stones for years; sometimes I’m looking for certain colors or shapes, or struck by finding stones with lines encircling them.  I’m always on the lookout for stones with faces or mouths in them, and not all make it into my drawings.  The stone below was calling out for a face, and now resides in my studio with other found objects I’m fond of.

Currently my website is being redesigned, and I’m excited to have the new site go live.  I have approximately twenty drawings that aren’t on my current site, and the new format will display everything much better.  I’ll announce the new site when it’s ready, and as always, thanks for reading!

This is the drawing  I worked on last spring.  It’s done on Strathmore Bristol Board with Caran D’Ache Supracolor II Watersoluble Pencils and Prismacolor Pencils, and measures 14″ x 23″.  The colors are a little washed out, but this is my photograph, not a professional photo.   I had purchased this small vase (it measures 2 1/2″ high x 4 1/2″ wide) at a church rummage sale and filled it with tiny white stones, placing on a teal-colored piece of rice paper.  When I added water to the vase, the stone on the far left turned this deep ochre color, which I found very interesting!  Stones can look dramatically different when wet or dry, which is just one of the ideas I enjoy exploring in these drawings.  I wanted the stones to look like they were glowing like a lantern.  It’s hard to convey with words what I want to express with this drawing, but I hope it suggests remembrance, peace, and the endurance of the human spirit, much like a chalice.

Meanwhile, I have been to the CPSA Convention in Covington, KY, which was a great time.  I had the chance to hang out with several close friends from across the country, make new friends, take a workshop with John Ursillo, and tour a little bit of Cincinnati.  Some terrific write-ups of the convention (and accompanying photos) can be found at: Lynda Schumacher’s Blog and Kendra Ferreira’s Blog.

It’s been four plus weeks since I’ve worked on any artwork, which feels like an eternity.  I was all set to get back to work yesterday, when I sliced off a part of my right index finger using a mandoline to make ratatouille.  Suffice it to say, I needed medical attention, and now have a huge protective bandage on my hand.  It’ll be a few days before I can hold a pencil again, and even longer before my finger pad regenerates.  I’m a little concerned about my finger recovery and hoping for a quick recovery without complications!

Thanks for reading,  Debbi

Finally I feel like there’s time to write a blog post and share some images I created last winter and spring.  I did several drawings combining leaves and stones, working on a smaller scale and exploring ideas of color and the interplay between the colors of the leaves and the shadow they cast.  One drawing was conceived as a triptych, but may be re-cropped to display as diptych, with the stone/leaf on the far right being it’s own drawing.   I’d love to get some feedback on this idea from readers.   It’s shown below cropped into two drawings, as well as as a triptych.

Then there are two little drawings that stand on their own…. I loved working on the shadows of the leaves, which really did reflect all of these colors!

The new issue of “Practique des Arts” is out, and I can finally share both the piece I created as an exclusive for the magazine as well as the article.  Auburn Vessel, above, was completed last December after working on it for most of the fall.  It measures approximately 18 x 19 inches.  The article, below, shows many of the stages, so I won’t go into detail about the working process.  It is, unfortunately, difficult to read as is (font is too small) and a bit blurry when enlarged.  But it is in french, so unless you can read french, there’s not much lost.  And the stages are pretty self-explanatory.  If anyone has any questions, I’d be most happy to try and answer them.   There is also a link to the article on my website news page, which you can access here.  Thanks for reading!

I’m going back to the leaf drawings I enjoyed doing so much, but combining them with stones.  I’ve been working on this drawing, Prismacolors over Caran D’Ache Supracolor washes, done on Bristol Board Vellum.   I have a couple of new ideas to explore, including a triptych.  While this drawing is not complete yet, there is enough here to share.  The stone needs more development, as well as many areas of the leaves and shadows.

I am excited to be heading off to Strasbourg and Paris in a few hours.  We will be visiting friends in both cities, and I am very eager to see friend and colleague Elizabeth Patterson’s current exhibition of Colored Pencil drawings in Paris at the Galerie Louis Carre.  It will also be a great opportunity for my son, who has been studying french for four years, to hear and practice the language.  And, to eat!!!  Oh, and I suppose to take in some art…..Thanks for reading, and a bientot!

It has been such a long time since I’ve written a blog post, but I have not fallen off of the face of the earth!  I have been busy with my art, and finally have a couple of new drawings to share.  Continuing with my Stones series, I have a Stones Pile, and a small Stones/bowl.  I’ve come to group them into these categories in my mind:  Piles, Vases (with and without water), and “zen” studies.

The drawing above is in the Pile category. It’s done on Canson Mi-Tientes paper with Prismacolors and measure approximately 11′ x 17″.  The upper right corner of the background is the actual paper without any pencil.

The drawing below is also on Canson Mi-Tientes with Prisamcolor pencils, and measures 8″ x 10 1/2″.  It’s a fun little drawing that took only a couple of days to produce.  I purposefully kept it looser and less detailed, if one can call my work those things!

I’m excited to share the news that most likely the drawing I did as an exclusive for the French Art Magazine Practique des Artes will be published in their upcoming April issue.  At that point in time I can share the image and article here on my blog.

Thanks for reading!

I spent the past two weeks working on these three little stones drawings.  It’s always fun to do these smaller pieces and work out some ideas quickly.  Well, I suppose quick is a relative term – quick for me!

I have more ideas for little drawings to do in the future, but now I’m on to another larger stones drawing.  It’s a piece that is being executed for publication in an art magazine that wants an “exclusive”, so I can’t reveal the image until it’s completed and published.  It’s exciting to think about sharing the stages of my drawings in this venue.  I would have been doing this piece regardless, but their timing was excellent.  It’s going to make me think more clearly about delineating the stages of my more complex drawings.  That’s always good practice and helps one to be able to better “present” their art, whether it’s verbally or pictorally.

Thanks for reading!

And Presto-Magic, the rocks appear!!!  I had a lot of fun drawing these stones. The reflections, shadows and distortions were quite challenging, especially where they all converge at the same point.  The most obvious place for this is just under the meniscus line.  The overall color probably isn’t accurate due to the lighting in my studio and my photography skills, so I am very excited to see how it looks after my photographer does her work.

I’ve started work on two new pieces, both of stones.  One is a small,  zen little drawing, and the other is a larger composition of stones in a water vase with new angles and colors.  I’m going to see how it goes working on two pieces simultaneously, as I’d love to increase my output.  (I know, wouldn’t we all!)  As always, thanks for reading.

Here is the second stage of my current and very violet/fuschia still life. And Oh Em Gee, it looks like I forgot to draw the stones (wink wink Jeff George)!

No, it did not take me two weeks to draw this much of the glass!  I am almost done with the stones.  The colors are really working wonderfully off of the background and it amazes me how much it pulls together when the concreteness of the stones are in place.  I know I mentioned in my last post that the glass was definitely the most challenging part of the drawing, but it’s not!  These stones have very intricate interplay with the glass and water, creating complex light distortion and reflections. I used a piece of glass propped up on blocks when I set up the initial still life,  and then cut a hole in the fabric directly under the vase.  Then I played around with shining a flashlight up through the bottom, as well as having another light source from above.  It’s subtle, but doing this did create different illuminations in the set-up.

It’s really been quite fun to do this one.  Next post will be the finished drawing.  Thanks for reading.

Here is the first stage of my new still-life drawing, and as mentioned in my last post, it’s very purple – or fuschia, magenta, plum, eggplant. . . . whatever you want to call it!  It’s also large (for me) measuring in at 22″ x 16.5″.  I’ve completed as much of the background as I’m going to do for now, and will most likely tweak some areas later when the vase, stones and water are in place.  I used a Caran d’Ache watercolor pencil layer to begin, and after blending it with water  I started in on the dry layers of Prismacolor pencils:  #924 solid color stick, more loosely applied for texture, and then Black Cherry, Lavender, Raspberry, and then Indigo, Dark Umber, Violet Blue, Black Grape, Tuscan Red, Orange and Olive Green in places, depending on the desired color effect.

I’ve started on the glass now, and it’s definitely the most challenging part of the drawing.  The top of the vase has so many aspects to it:  light shining through it, light reflecting off of it, color distorting through the glass, and stones/water reflecting on the sides.  Plus I’m changing the colors from my two reference photos, as one is very pink and the other is very dark purple.  So this is really a color creation.  I’ll post another photo when it reaches the stage where all of the glass/water areas are complete, but not the rock areas.  I’m executing this one with the same approach as “Counterpoint in Green”, which is archived on my blog in  April, May and June of 2010, if anyone is interested in referencing it.

Here is the little Hawaiian Pebbles drawing I recently finished. My sister-in-law who often visits family in Hawaii gave me these little stones and they are all quite “aqua” in tone. But to accentuate them, I photographed them after wetting them in water. It really brought out the colors. If I have time, I plan to do another drawing of them “dry”, as the color is so delicate and soft.

At present I have started a much larger drawing of stones in a water vase, with a very plum-colored fabric background. Mean Mr. Plum, Purple Haze, Purple Rain, hmmmm, I can’t think of any other purple connections – can anyone else? The color is super-saturated and not for the faint of heart. I’m going to start blogging more actively now that summer is coming to a close, so look for a photo update soon! Thanks for reading.

Here is a post of my newest drawing, another “Balancing Act”. . . in stages.  I started out, as I mentioned in my last post, working with only Faber-Castell Polychromos on Canson Mi-Tientes peach-toned paper.  I have notated under the images which colors were used in that particular photo/stage (reading left to right, top to bottom).  I know there’s a big jump from the stages to the finished drawing, but after a while it’s just too tedious to continue working in this fashion.  Perhaps the stones are calling, and I want to start to do the more creative blending and drawing?   I’ve now started work on a smallish  drawing of some gorgeous, aqua-colored stones from Hawaii that someone gave to me.  I’m using a different approach for this drawing, working on white Bristol Board paper with Caran D’Ache Aquarelles and then dry layers of Prismacolors.

Tomorrow I’m off to Dallas to join other artists at the 19th Annual CPSA convention and exhibition.  My piece, Counterpoint in Green, was juried into the show, and I’m also excited to be receiving my CPSA Signature Status this year.  This is awarded to artists who have been juried into three shows within ten years.  I’ll post some photos from the convention when I get back.  Meanwhile it’s time to finish packing the coolest clothes I can find!

Finally here is my latest drawing.  I wanted to have it done before I went to the CPSA convention from July 28th through August 1st in San Jose, CA, but it just didn’t work out timing-wise.  This drawing is about the same size as the other pieces in this series (a. 15 x 21 inches and done on Rtistx board), but it’s exploring some slightly different aspects of the stones in water, glass reflections, and color distortions, with less clear boundries.  I find it challenging not to tighten up all of the edges of transitions, and had to force myself to put the drawing at arm’s length and study it more than I usually do.

I’m starting a new drawing of a bird in a winter setting – a dark-eyed junco perched on a crusty snow-covered tree stump.   I’m in the mood for a change at the moment, and haven’t done a bird drawing in over a year.  It’s amusing to think of drawing a winter scene as we are in the midst of one of the most beautiful, hot and dry summers that New England has seen in recent years.

It’s been a busy summer with lots of travel and several exhibitions including my artwork.  Although my pieces were not juried into the 18th International CPSA Exhibition, I have had work in the following shows and magazines these past few months:

• Academic Artists Association’s 60th National Juried Exhibition,  April-May 2010, recipient of the Windsor Newton Award for Graphics
• Connecticut Academy of Fine Art’s 99th Annual Juried Exhibition, May-July 2010
• Academic Artists Association’s Annual Members Exhibition, July 2010, recipient of the Art Patron Award
• Attleboro Arts Museum’s “Seeing Double”, a National Juried Exhibtion, July-August 2010
• The Artists Magazine, July/August 2010 issue, “The Artist’s Life” Column, Award Winners of the 2010 On-line Media Competition, first place in Graphics for “Amber Bowl”

and these upcoming exhibitions:

• Academic Artists Association’s 60th Anniversary Invitational Exhibition, September-October 2010
• Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Inc. 114th Annual Juried Exhibition, October 2010

Thanks for following my blog!  – Debbi

I am very excited to have this drawing at it’s completion!  It’s actually been finished since the end of last week, but as usual, I have spent a little time tweaking it here and there to tidy up some edges and colors, etc.  I particularly love the area where the rocks and water line meet and all of the complexities of those interactions.  Now it’s on to trying to come up with a name for this piece.  That’s one of my more challenging tasks.  I usually end up using somewhat mundane sounding titles, basically they help me to know which piece it is, but I find it difficult to convey much more than that in a title.  Any comments or suggestions from other artists out there?

I’m moving on quickly to a new piece, and will write more about that when it’s underway.  Meanwhile, it’s been a busy spring with several shows going on in the New England area.  Lapis Light was just accepted into the Connecticut Academy of Fine Art’s 99th Annual Juried Show, which is up at the Mystic Arts Center (Mystic, CT) from May 28th to July 17th.  More information can be found at either of these websites:  Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts or Mystic Arts Center.

One of my favorite little drawings, Nocturne at Sea, is currently hanging in the Academic Artists Association’s Annual Member’s Exhibition, and was awarded the “Art Patron’s Award”.

Happy upcoming summer to all, and thanks for checking out my blog!

With the the glass vase complete it’s on to the really fun stuff! But as I write that I should note that the vase isn’t really finished.  Already since I’ve taken this photograph I’ve deepened some areas where it interfaces with the rocks.  But the fun stuff it watching it all pull together and come alive as each stone is drawn.  I start with the darkest stones and move on to the lightest; and in this drawing, the darkest stones are the three on the bottom.  I like the way the glass and reflections have developed, but it won’t really pull together until it’s all in place, and one can see why certain reflections are where they are.

I’ve been working on this new drawing for about four weeks and the background and top of the glass vase are almost done.  It’s a large drawing (about 20 x 15 inches) on Bristol Board, and it’s interesting to switch back to a flat paper surface after working on the textured Rtistx for a couple of pieces.  I have to be very careful to leave the whiter/lighter areas intact, as there’s no going back once they go too dark.  On the sanded surface, you can keep changing the color, adding whites or light tones on top of darks, nothing is a problem.  But on paper that type of option is lost very quickly.  I started the background by layering two to four different shades of Caran D’ache Aquarelle pencil colors and then blending the colors with a wet brush.  Then I started in with Prismacolor pencils, first using Limepeel, then Grass Green, Olive Green, Peacock Green, Black Cherry and some Dark Umber.  Certain lighter places have some Yellow Ochre in them, and most places (except the darkest darks) are burnished with a pale light blue.  I know it’s not the most simplistic approach, but I love the color transparencies that one can achieve by layering this way.

My drawing “Amber Bowl” is currently in the Academic Artist Association’s 60th Annual National Exhibition in Springfield, MA, and was awarded the Windsor-Newton Award.  The big red letter day fast approaching for all of us colored pencil artists is the announcement of the jurying results for this year’s  CPSA International Exhibition, which will be made public on April 26th.

I finished this graphite drawing, titled “Front Side/Back Side” over a week ago, and have been tending to art business details in the interim.  I guess it should be pretty evident that this stone is reflected in a mirror, so one can see two sides (or more, since more than one side is showing on the rock in the foreground).  In this series I always aspire to do a companion piece to each drawing, an opposite of sorts.  For this one, I envision drawing a whiter rock on a darker background with a mirror image.  But I’ve moved on to a yet larger colored pencil still life of stones in a vase with water, seen from straight on, rather than a bird’s eye view.  It has a lot of green in it – I’m so happy it’s spring!

I’m very excited to share this new drawing in my Stones series.  Will you look at those colors!  It’s so stunning when the  pale, discreet colors of the rocks become submerged in water.  This still life has a straight above, bird’s eye view, and the bowl is cropped; in comparison to the Amber Bowl, which is viewed slightly at an angle, and the bowl is entirely contained in the composition.  As a result, in this piece the water is less prominent, but different and  interesting aspects are created.  I had so much fun exploring the different ways light and reflection danced around the piece.

I’m starting a graphite drawing of stones reflecting in a mirror, and planning to resume work on the last oil painting I posted a while back.  It’s been sitting on the back burner (in this case, my studio easel) for too long!

Here is an installment after two weeks of work.  I approached the beginning of this drawing in the same fashion as the still-life that I featured in my blog post of October 15, 2009.  I worked in the background first, and then started in on the bowl from the outside in.  This will leave the rocks and water for last.  I’m  having a lot of fun working on this, but there is a challenge in the colors, as I’m slightly tweaking the color to a more “blueish” shade than a more “purple-ish” shade. There are no blacks in the drawing, so the darks are made by layering blues, purples and browns.  I am so excited to move on to the reflections that continue on the glass down into the water.

When I start a new drawing on paper, I jump right in and start laying out the drawing directly on the drawing surface.  Not so with a sanded surface, such as the Rtistx board I’m using for my new drawing of stones in a bowl of water.  The sanded surface is nearly impossible to erase lines from, so I follow a system that seems to work well for me, and I think many artists must do very much the same.  (I would be most interested to hear what others do when laying out a drawing on Ampersand Pastel board, Rtistx, or a sanded paper – so feel free to share!)

My first step is to create a basic line drawing – not too detailed, but everything in it’s place, on drawing paper at actual size, as below.

Then I make a copy of this drawing onto a piece of tracing paper, as follows.

Next I take the tracing paper drawing and layer it on top of the Rtistx board, with a piece of transfer paper in between, to offset the drawing onto the board.

Below is the finished product, a transferred line drawing of my future drawing on the piece of Rtistx board.

I’ve been working on this piece for a week and making good progress, so my next post will include a recent photo of the drawing.  To close I wanted to share something that  I discovered for the first time, which I know many other colored pencil artists have experienced. . . . inconsistent product color.  As you can see in the photo below, both pencils are Prismacolor Grayed Lavender, but the lead color is quite different.  Fortunately I had several pencils of each, varying shade and was able to continue without difficulty.  But it was a head’s up for me to always check the consistency of color when changing pencils.