[Bryan Mccabe]

Thanks Deborah 🙂 I still plan on adding some water to the background on this one, so I’ll see how it goes.

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 26. More work today. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 25. A bit more work on this one. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thank you Deborah 🙂 Yes, these are the new crayons. The colors are absolutely beautiful, and they are so much smoother to color with than Crayola. So far, I haven’t been brave enough to add any water, but I think I will experiment with the background. The really interesting thing is that Caran D’ Ache sells these crayons in both water soluble and non water soluble versions. It might be fun to experiment with using both in the same painting. Also, so far I haven’t applied any fixatives, but this can be done between layers to build use colors and textures. I could also use the crayons as a base layer, and add pastel on top of it. This is my first attempt, so I wanted to get comfortable using the  medium normally in this work. The only downside is the art store in town only had the 15 colors box, so my palette is quite limited at the moment. I could go full Zorn with these and only use Vermillion, Yellow Ochre, Black, and White. I decided to add Cobalt Blue to that mix for this one because I saw quite a bit of blue in my skin tone. Overall, I think this one is turning out decent for my first attempt 🙂

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 24. About half done with this self portrait. Trying to adjust to the new crayons and limited colors. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 23. Here is my self portrait block in. Still needs some work before I start coloring. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thanks Deborah. I picked these up this evening, but probably won’t try them out until tomorrow 🙂. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

These look very good Deborah 🙂

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thank you Deborah. I’m a fan of Emily Dickinson 🙂. I agree that there are some great works of art that are very small. Albrecht Durer comes to mind. I probably won’t work this small after I finish filling up this sketchbook, but it has been a nice challenge to learn to work with the limitations of the page. Holbien’s work is great. Thanks for sharing that 🙂. I have a plan to tape a big sheet of paper to the wall in the my apartment, and then use those Caran D Ache watercolor crayons to make a big portrait. It’s just a matter of having the time to do it at this point.

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 22. Here is my progress for today. I might finish her hands and legs, or I might leave them impressionistic. Still trying to decide. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Thanks Deborah 🙂 I see what you are saying about the core shadow. Originally, I was trying to copy the scheme of the painting, and Ingres divided his shadow into browner and bluer/grayer areas. I should have made the grey darker to blend more with the brown so it reads as one shadow shape. Yes, crayons are tough for details, especially this small. All of my works so far have been 5.5 x 8.5. Yes, I do sharpen the crayons using this ridiculous sharpener that came with the box. Doesn’t work very well, but makes me smile every time I use it 🙂. If you do try oil painting, I’d suggest wearing gloves. I wish I still had a place to paint, but on the other hand, my new apartment is helping me think outside the box in terms of materials and methods.

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 21. Here is my progress on the portrait of my wife. Doesn’t look exactly like her, but overall I think this one is going pretty well, despite some difficulties controlling the medium. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 20. I’m working on a portrait of my wife using crayon. Here is the block in. 

[Bryan Mccabe]

Nice application of watercolor Deborah 🙂

[Bryan Mccabe]

Day 19. I decided to go further on this one than I originally planned because it was fun to just keep coloring. Most of it below the neck had no pencil outline. This one is definitely not perfect, but I still feel I improved on drawing a portrait by Ingres compared to my last challenge. 

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