For more information on how I developed this project, please visit the following blog post: River Pebbles, No. 3 - Melting Artist Crayons.

River Pebbles, No. 2

This is the second work in a new series of small art depicting some of my favorite subjects. The purpose of this series is to produce more regularly while also working on large pieces. Working small allows me to be more experimental with the Icarus Drawing Board. With each artwork I plan to share something interesting about how I made it.

Title: River Pebbles, No. 2
Size: 5" x 5"
Medium:  Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil (Verithin and Softcore) and Caran d'Ache Luminance Colored Pencil
Miscellaneous: Lyra Splender Colorless Blender, Gray Paper Stumps
Surface: Stonehenge Paper
Technique: Icarus Drawing Board

My Set-up

Here you can see my set-up. I like to have everything close-by; the pencil tray sits on top of my Icarus board together with the Swifter Duster and the cotton towel. Taping the paper to the glass can be very helpful especially when burnishing on the warm zone.

My Timer

My Sharpeners

This yellow timer above is my constant companion. It helps me be more productive and more aware of interruptions. Once I got used to it, starting it and stopping it have become second nature.

To the right of my drawing board I keep two sharpeners: the X-Acto School Pro is electrical and works well with different diameter pencils; the Derwent is battery operated and, even though is made for pencils, I've used it to sharpen crayons for many months with no ill effects. The two sharpeners sit inside an acrylic photo frame together with a thick, moist sponge where I clean my pencils after I sharpen them.

The video above is a slide show of River Pebbles, No. 2. Please come back for my next blog post: River Pebbles, No. 2 - A Closer Look, where I will show you a detailed step-by-step of the project.

I'm thrilled to announce that my artwork Symbiosis won First Place in the San Clemente Art Gallery Winter Judged Show, Mixed Media category.

I'm also very happy that River Odyssey was juried into "Explore This! 8", the Colored Pencil Society of America’s online exhibition. This annual exhibition, which opens on February 1st and runs until January 31st, 2013, is for colored pencil artwork that includes some element or technique that is unacceptable for the International Exhibition. This permits artists to experiment with various mediums and surfaces as well as three-dimensional, collage and relief artworks.

Symbiosis - San Clemente Art Gallery

River Odyssey

I have just uploaded a slide show of River Pebbles, No. 1 to Icarus Art's YouTube Channel. You can view it below.

Four River Pebbles

I've just posted the five part video series "Four River Pebbles" to our Icarus Art YouTube Channel. It's a collection of 57 video clips from my 2010 CPSA workshop "Wax and Heat, a Match Made in Heaven".

This project, which was accomplished on white Stonehenge paper with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Artist Crayons, is divided into the following five sequential playlists:

1. Beige Pebble
2. Green Pebble
3. Yellow Pebble
4. Red Pebble
5. Shadows and Water

For my workshop attendees this is a great opportunity to review the techniques learned in Santa Clara, California. For everybody else it's like taking a workshop for free. All voiced-over video clips are available in high definition and come with a downloadable supply list, an outline of the project, and an image of the finished project.

I hope you will enjoy practicing and/or learning the Icarus technique. You are always welcomed to post comments and ask questions either on this blog or on our YouTube Channel.

I just posted a new playlist of 17 video clips on our Icarus Art YouTube Channel. It's a condensed, sixty-minute video library of  a project called "Mussel Shell" from my 2010 CPSA workshop "Wax and Heat, a Match Made in Heaven".

For my workshop attendees this is a great opportunity to review the techniques learned last summer. For everybody else it's like taking a workshop for free. All voiced-over video clips are available in high definition and come with a downloadable supply list, an outline of the project, and an image of the finished mussel shell.

I hope you all enjoy practicing and/or learning the Icarus technique. You are always welcome to post comments and ask questions either on this blog or on YouTube.

View this playlist on Youtube.

Check out my latest playlist on YouTube. It's a series of exercises on Art Spectrum Colourfix Paper, one of my favorite surfaces. In the next several months all the videos from my workshop "Wax and Heat, a Match Made in Heaven" will be voiced over and uploaded on the Icarus Art channel. Artists who couldn't attend my workshop will have the opportunity to view the videos and practice the techniques.

If you have not already, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Icarus Art is now on YouTube. The first series of video clips is a short introduction to the Icarus Technique and the Icarus Drawing Board. You can see how I organize my workstation and how I use some of my favorite tools.

I have also posted a video on how to create a monotype with the Icarus Board.

This is just the beginning. I will upload more videos soon.