I bought myself a new set of Derwent Drawing Pencils. The natural colors and high quality are what drew me to them (and the fact they were on sale). I've been looking for more colors from nature. I always seem to reach for colors that aren't in my box of pencils.
The day they arrived, I got out white and tan paper and swatched the set, noting in my mind where I had seen each color out in nature: the earthy red of the blueberry twigs, the olive green of winter grass, and the sage green of lichens on fallen branches. Everywhere I walked, I saw the colors of these pencils repeated in nature.
Overall, these colors are more muted than most of my colored pencils.
Here's a close up photo of blueberry twigs, a lovely match for the autumn red pencil.
And here's my sketch of the twig and some opossum tracks in the snow.
Opossum tracks always charm me with the little thumb sticking out at an odd angle.
I stopped by my neighbor's house, and got to meet her charming horse, Axle.
The earth tones --woodland, chocolate, apricot & ruby earth-- mixed with white and black expressed the wintry scene and beautiful Axle.
When I can't find the exact right match for a color in my kit, I look for two or more pencils that come close and mix them by coloring one over the other(s).
Repeat this process until you get the color you're looking for. I mixed Prismacolors in poppy red, Tuscan red, Crimson red & white to try to match Derwent's autumn red (the color at the very bottom).
When you feel like you want to create but don't have the energy or time for a full drawing, swatching the colors you see is a great exercise. Simply pick a couple of colors you see around you or in a photo, and try to replicate them with your colored pencils.
A perfect match is not the goal!
Exploring is.
Experimenting with colors will move you ahead in your observational drawing skills. You will begin to notice nuances in the colors you see around you.
Happy Creating!
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