Creating Background & Foreground With Coloring Style

When I attended the Artisan Expo in Santa Fe last year, I found another non-toxic pencil solvent that I was THRILLED with.

My sister (who is an oil painter) and I steer clear of chemical solvents whenever possible for obvious reasons, so I never got on the Gamsol train. I also could never stand those paper tortillons - the sound they make on the paper gives me a gag reflex. Not even kidding.

So for a long time, I used an orange oil blend from the UK, but then I went to the expo and found a company whose blends and cleaners are all FOOD GRADE plant oils.

Sign my hippie hiney UP! Take my money! The guys at the booth were so helpful and we've chatted a few times since then. Best part - it's made in New York. My sister bought the ones for oil painting and I carefully ferried the beautiful little glass bottle of pencil blend, and a little bottle of their citrus brush cleaner home from Santa Fe. And then, life happened and I blinked and six months has gone by. But today - if you don't like solvents and you don't like tortillons, enjoy the card I made with this lavender oil and these blending tools! (PS I like the bullet tip for blending - the brush tip for more delicate work.)

I just got these pencils from Japan and they are DREAMY - for both detailed coloring and for blending, so I decided to mix the two styles to give the illusion of a foreground and a background, or, if you have an Iphone - a portrait mode card - where the foreground is focused and the background is soft and dreamy. I used the same colors on all flowers from this stamp set - just a bit lighter on the background flowers, and then I blended them with this bullet point blender and the lavender oil. On the foreground flower, I added some darker darks and just kept my pencil sharp. If someone asks Kathy Racoosin what kind of pencil she likes, she says "a sharp one" - and that is the key to successful coloring. The flowers were all stamped first in this gorgeous new Amalgam Ink color - she has several new ones tonight - and you can use them with any medium to add just the right shade to your colored images. I especially like this one - I bet leaves, grass and trees in this would be stunning.

I paired this card with a Key Lime envelope (these have a peel off strip - no licking and dying from it like George Costanza's fiance) and an adorable sentiment from this set. The sentiment for the floral card is from this set.

The pencils are actually a hybrid - they have both oil and wax, hence their butteryness, if that's a word. I love them. Only available from Japan right now, but mine came quickly and perfectly packed. And don't freak out over the price - there are smaller sets available too, and the pastel one is gorgeous. Poke around on Ebay and find one that's right for you. That's where they are until US retailers sell them, but the sets are brand new.

I used Gina K's Artist's Choice cardstock - this is my favorite pencil paper. It has more "tooth" than her ultra smooth white cardstock. She's kind of a pencil fiend so she gets it, and had this paper made specifically for that. I like to use a coloring glove when I color FYI so I don't smudge my work.

Doesn't that make your eyes happy? It does mine.

Next up in my lime envelope trio - this giant craft themed set has the sentiment on the flap, and then I used this die, which doesn't have an open center, and a circle die, to create a sweet heart frame. It's sized perfectly for the images from this set. I stamped the flower first in Amalgam ink, then I masked it with masking paper. Then I stamped the leaves on top of that, and masked them, and finally the jar. Then I colored them with Copics. The sentiment is from this set, and the cardstock is Innocent Pink. 

For one brief moment while I was photographing the next card, the sun came out. That didn't last long. But you'll get a truer sense of the envelope color here.

This new crafty set is so much fun. It comes with matching dies for each little tool, so I stamped them all in Amalgam ink, colored them with Copics and arranged them on the card. One tip for you when you're doing this - when you get the arrangment the way you like it and before you glue it down - take a picture with your phone. I can't tell you how helpful this is when you get the perfect arrangement and then a cat walks across it, or you knock them all off while grabbing one to glue. The sentiment is from this set, and the one on the envelope is from this set.

Clear Stamps- Watercolor Flowers -... [ GNK ] Clear Stamps- Vibrant Blooms - Gina K... [ GNK ] Vibrant Blooms Die Set - Gina K Designs [ GNK ] Clear Stamps- You Make Me Happy -... [ GNK ] You Make Me Happy Die Set - Gina K... [ GNK ] Clear Stamps- Crafty Notes - Gina K... [ GNK ] Crafty Notes Die Set - Gina K Designs [ GNK ] Heart Circle Die - Gina K Designs [ GNK ] GKD Amalgam Ink Pad- Skeleton Leaves... [ GNK ] Clear Mini Stamps- Crafty and... [ GNK ] Holbein OP945 Artist Colored Pencils... [ EB. ] Chelsea Classical Studio Oil Painting... [ BLIC ] 04852-1105 - Chelsea Classical Studio... [ BLIC ] Tsukineko FANTASTIX COMBO PACK... [ SSS ] Artist's Choice 110lb White Card Stock [ GNK ] Tall Cut Card Stock- Innocent Pink -... [ GNK ] Avery 6465 Removable Multipurpose... [ AMZUS ] GKD Amalgam Ink Pad- Jet Black [ GNK ] Envelopes 10 pack- Key Lime - Gina K... [ GNK ] Circle Infinity Dies (H) [ HA ] Connect Glue - Gina K Designs [ GNK ] Copic 12 Bold BASIC SKETCH MARKER SET... [ SSS ] Coloring Glove - Anti-Smudge [ AMZUS ] Derwent Battery-Operated Eraser [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Ipoint Orbit Pencil Sharpener, Turquoise [ AMZUS | BLIC ] Global Art Classic Leather Pencil Cases [ BLIC | AMZUS ] Staedtler Mars Plastic Erasers [ BLIC | JGG | AMZUS ] Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and... [ SSS | ELH | BMS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC | AMZUS ] What's New Archives - Gina K Designs [ GNK ]

So now you know all my feelings about pencil blending. What are your feelings about coloring with colored pencils? Do you like blended or unblended coloring? What are your favorite pencils? Let me know in a comment! And go check out the rest of Gina's release!

Loveyameanitbye.