Sunset Belaire
COLOUR PENCIL
Reference: K Rodriguez with permission
Materials:
Derwent Lightfast hot press 300gsm, 305mm x 405mm
Derwent Lightfast, Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle, Derwent Drawing, Stabilo Aquarelle
This curvaceous, sun-kissed, sparkling beauty of automotive engineering rolled off the production lines at a time when Bill Haley and His Comets were Rocking Around the Clock and Marty McFly was putting the World to rights the first time, way back in '55!
A time, no doubt, when whole weekends could be swallowed up making that gorgeous chrome shine. This wonderful sunset photo, taken in the foothills of Nevada, was a picture I had long wanted to draw. I added some background and sky to flip this to portrait from the original landscape format.
This is my first try on Derwent Lightfast paper. The price is eye watering and I saw no flecks of gold embedded in the paper, but I have to say it is a joy to use, wet or dry.
I have yet to compare to Arches Hot Press for colour pencil, but definitely will be doing that soon. It behaved impeccably when using water and seemed to work well with a range of techniques, with the smooth texture helping with detail where required. I do wonder if Derwent will offer this on a roll for larger pieces
Museum Aquarelles were used wet in wet with finest filtered tap water, using the inexpensive and fabulous Caran d'Ache palette to grind some pigment before applying. I loved using it like traditional watercolour and subtle graduations were quickly achieved. Both near and far mountains were underpainted in the same speedy way before the slow work of dry colour pencil commenced.
On to the textures using Lightfast pencils, I loved the layering capability of the paper. Blends built up gradually for the smoother areas, whilst layering and leaving the tooth to show in areas like the tarmac worked well enough for texture.
The radiator and number plate area took three eternities at least, with pencils seemingly sharpened to a diameter measured in molecules and record-breaking breath holding sessions required. I resembled a puffer fish doing this I am sure
Still, it was a lot of fun to do and is an improvement on my last full sized Wacky Races car drawn as a child. I think!
Have a good week everyone 😊

