Have I Told You Lately...?

"My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory, it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility."                 Henri Matisse

Have I mentioned how much I love my new pastel pencils?  I can't get enough of them. I just finished tangling and coloring/shading this piece with the pastel pencils. Starting with a design in one of those new, so very popular, adult coloring books (paisleys), I transferred the overall design (without all the details) onto a piece of Canson Mi Teintes pastel paper. Using the smoother of the two sides of the paper, I did a little tweaking to the design and then began tangling.

All the tangling was completed with black Microns, 01 and 08. All the color, shading and highlighting was added with my pastel pencils. I decided to use earth tone colors, which is not my norm. I tend to go brighter usually, but with these I even love the softer colors. Working with the pastel pencils is just as relaxing for me as tangling.

I love the finished piece, although there were a couple of spots I might have completed differently after seeing it. Even though I have all the colors that these General's pencils come in, I wanted to add some more to my collection, so I ordered some individual pastel pencils by Faber-Castell, which I just got delivered yesterday. It will be interesting to see how they compare to the ones I already had. Hopefully I'll like them just as much.

By the way, have I mentioned how much I love my pastel pencils?