creating radiant flowers in colored pencil GARY GREENE DEDICATION To my son, Gregg, a constant source of pride and joy ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to my wife, Patti, who spent many hours alone by the television and who took on additional responsibilities while I wrote this book. Special thanks to the six contributing artists, Susan Brooks, Edna Henry, Kristy Kutch, Sherry Loomis, Judy McDonald and Terry Sciko, who contributed their time and considerable talent to this project. Thanks again to Rachel Wolf, Pam Seyring, Joyce Dolan, Amy Jeynes, Angela Wilcox, Pam Koenig and everyone at North Light Books, who are (cid:633)rst-rate people to work with. ARTIST’S STATEMENT We’ve all gone shopping for shoes and, after trying on a number of pairs, suddenly know when we have found the right pair. The (cid:633)t, the look, the statement they make about us—they all come together. In a similar way, this is how colored pencil became my medium of choice as well as the crux of my artistic expression—a melding of personality and purpose. While receiving my (cid:633)ne art education in mainstream mediums, I endured instructors’ relentless admonishments to “work loose,” something I was incapable of doing. Fifteen years into my parallel careers of technical illustration, graphics and photography, I was still searching for a medium that (cid:633)t my (cid:633)ne art aspirations. Then I found myself in an art store where I innocuously picked up a book, The Colored Pencil by Bet Borgeson. It was an epiphany. Colored pencil was love at (cid:633)rst stroke! At last I had found a medium that satis(cid:633)ed my obsessions to create paintings with a photographic look. Twenty-eight years ago, creating serious art in colored pencil was indeed di(cid:643)erent. Most people thought it was something children used to scribble in coloring books, not a fine art medium. Because colored pencil paintings require a great deal of time to produce (I may spend over 500 hours on a single painting), working from live subjects or en plein air is impractical, if not impossible, so I work exclusively from photographs that I compose specifically for art subjects. If the subjects I paint are man-made, I employ my tools of the trade from my days as a technical illustrator (great fodder for art snobs)—straightedges, templates and curves —to create precise shapes and sharp edges. After convincing people that my paintings are, indeed, executed entirely with colored pencil, I frequently hear the comment, “Gee, you must have a lot of patience!” to which I facetiously reply, “If you’re in front of me in the left lane on the freeway and going the speed limit, you’ll soon (cid:633)nd out how much patience I have.” If my artwork required patience, I could not possibly have done it on an almost daily basis for twenty-eight years and still have retained my amaranthine interest. Gary Greene contents Foreward Introduction CHAPTER 1 Getting Started Colored Pencils Surfaces Tools Master Color List CHAPTER 2 Techniques & References Layering Burnishing Underpainting Reference Material CHAPTER 3 A Plethora of Flora — A — Azalea Anthurium Amaryllis Aster by Terry Sciko — B — Begonia Bird of Paradise — C — Cactus Flower California Poppy Calla Lily by Susan L. Brooks Camellia by Edna Henry Carnation by Terry Sciko Chrysanthemum Another Chrysanthemum One More Chrysanthemum Cineraria Crocus Columbine — D — Daffodil by Kristy Kutch Dahlia Another Dahlia — E — Easter Cactus — F — Foxglove Another Foxglove by Judy McDonald Fuchsia — G — Geranium by Edna Henry Gerbera Daisy Gladiolus — H — Hibiscus Hollyhock Hydrangea Hyacinth by Susan L. Brooks — I — Iris — L — Lily by Kristy Kutch Lupine by Judy McDonald — M — Magnolia Marigold Morning Glory — N — Nasturtium — O — Orchid: Lady’s Slipper Orchid: Hybrid 1 Orchid: Hybrid 2 Orchid: Cymbidium — P — Pansy Passion Flower Peony by Terry Sciko Petunia With Dusty Miller Petunia by Edna Henry Poinsettia by Sherry Loomis Poppy Primrose by Sherry Loomis — R — Rhododendron Rose Another Rose by Sherry Loomis — S — Slipperwort (Calceolaria) Salpiglossis (Painted Tongue) Shasta Daisy Snapdragon Sunflower by Judy McDonald — T — Trillium Tulip Another Tulip by Kristy Kutch — W — Water Lily Another Water Lily by Susan L. Brooks — Z — Zinnia Contributing Artists’ Biographies