White Peony-Day 4 Final

© Ellen Blonder

The new pencils arrived, and I should have ordered more grays. Still, it helps to have more shades of green to tone down the too-bright pencils in the set I first bought. Finished.

White Peony-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

I'm still considering adding darker leaves around the flower to make the flower stand out more--and still waiting for the new colored pencils to arrive so I can play with more greens and light grays.

White Peony-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

I ordered different colored pencils, which should arrive soon. I think that's my excuse for not progressing faster on this. Getting the right shades of green for the leaves is difficult when my green pencils are so bright. I've even overlaid these with grays and blues to tone them down.

White Peony-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

I wanted to try colored pencils again, this time to draw a white peony. How do I convey white on colored paper? I may resort to white paint for highlights. This is from my photo of one of the spectacular peonies at Casa Loma last spring in Toronto.

Colored Pencil Peony-Final

© Ellen Blonder

Shading in the petals was far more difficult in colored pencil than my usual watercolors. Getting darks required going over and over an area, pressing down hard on the pencils, while the lightest tints were a challenge to keep clean and bright. I don't think I'll be switching my preferred medium, but this exercise made me appreciate a good pencil drawing even more.

Colored Pencil Peony-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

If you just held a petal from this peony in your hand, it would appear pale pink. In a drawing, though, I keep having to reach for darker and darker pencils to convey that paleness. I'm using ten different pinks, reds and purples to try to get a full tonal range. 

Colored Pencil Peony-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

Yesterday's post, of dark blue berries was easy compared with this. Getting a peony's pale pink petals to look delicate but not washed out is going to be the big challenge here.