Blue Jay in Colored Pencils on Sanded Paper with Powder Blender

Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you are able to safely visit with your mothers, children or grand children this year whether in person, on the phone or via the Internet. Today I am sharing a painting I did in colored pencil.

It was a lot of fun and really satisfying to draw/color/paint. Partly because of the pencils, they are decent quality but not so expensive that I have to worry about using up colors and partly because of the sanded paper and powder blender which let me layer up loads of saturated color. If you have never tried colored pencils with sanded paper before you are in for a treat, it is effortless to lay down color and build layers. Watch the video for a time lapse demo. If you are interested in a real time tutorial of this painting you can find it along with dozens of other long format tutorials that are more advanced than what I do on YouTube in Critique Club.

Supplies (affiliate links used)

• Reference photo from Artist Photo reference series: Songbirds *The other books in this series are excellent as well for building an at home reference library.
• Colored Pencils (Cezanne)
• Sanded pastel paper
• Colored pencil powder blender
• Texture fixative
• Touch up texture and titanium white from Brush & Pencil.

Have a great Sunday everyone and til next time happy crafting!