COLOURED PENCILS – A BOWL OF PEBBLES, AND A CASE FOR MY AMAZON BASICS PENCILS

In my bathroom I have quite a collection of pebbles which I have picked up on the beach on various occasions. I love the colour and variation, and the different textures, in pebbles – it is surprising how different they can be, and they often have a very pleasing rounded shape which is restful to look at, and pleasant to handle. They are very tactile and beautiful, rounded to their individual shapes by the battering of the waves, with all their corners knocked off. Gorgeous.

I have a very beautiful stoneware piece which I think is meant to be a candlestick, and I use this to display some of my choice pebbles.

I have been thinking of drawing these for some time, as an exercise in subtle colouring and texture.

This is the result, drawn with Derwent Coloursoft pencils on a page from my new Faber Castell drawing sketch pad.

A little bit sketchy, but not too bad for a first attempt! The colours and markings are pretty subtle on the pebbles.

I deliberately chose to use the Derwent Coloursoft pencils exclusively for this, as I have been dissatisfied with them in the past, and wondered if I could get better results with a lighter touch. Because they are so waxy and soft, it is hard to build up very many layers as the tooth of the paper is rapidly lost, but in this drawing I kept the pressure extremely light until the final stages, and it seemed to work a bit better than my previous experiences with these pencils.

Pencil Cases

This morning my Amazon parcel arrived, containing amongst other things the case for my Amazon Basics set of 72 pencils. The case is identical to the blue one which holds my Derwent Coloursoft set. They are such neat little cases with their removable “pages” and made of very nice fabric with a double-ended zip. Having different colours makes it easy to distinguish between the sets.

Inside the front cover are some useful storage pockets for bits and pieces.

Each “page” holds 12 pencils on each side.

All but the first page are attached to the spine with Velcro, so are removable.

The two cases, side by side, showing their carrying handles.

Both cases, open. The blue one, underneath, contains my Derwent Coloursoft set, and you can see some pencil extenders and a couple of blending pencils in the mesh pocket inside the front cover.

I am keeping the pencils in the same order as their numbered swatches, which should make it easier to find, and replace, any colour I want while working on a project.

I am very pleased with these neat little cases, which are much more convenient than the tins the pencils came in. The Faber Castell Polychromos will remain in their tin for now, until I decide what to do about those. That set is only 36 pencils.