I'm currently working on a piece that has been giving me grief - big time. I would liken this painting experience to a parent dealing with their temperamental tween child. Yes - that much grief.
I wanted to experiment on a sanded support (gessoed hardboard) that had more texture than pastel board - my surface of choice, so I purchased three Ampersand Textured Claybord panels in two different sizes. Can you guess which size I worked on first? Largest wins the prize. I know...I know...a wise choice.
For starters, five different types of colored pencil went into this drawing, with each brand laying down either too waxy or too powdery. The textured claybord EATS up pencils due to excessive grittiness. It's difficult to get into all those nooks and crannies with even the sharpest of pencils. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure this surface would be a terrific base for pastels or impasto painting. But colored pencils? Fail.
I resorted to numerous washes of Zest-it which I don't use very often. The solvent helped to balance and fill out the roughness to a certain degree. FYI: Derwent Coloursoft pencils responded best. Still, something was missing (a chiminea and lighter fluid, perhaps?) - the ability to blend in my usual manner. And Prismacolor Colorless Blenders were unable to properly perform on such coarse texture combined with numerous CP layers and heavy solvent applications. The color broke up immediately.
So there I was staring blankly in front of my drawing board, visions of bonfires dancing in my head when divine intervention/dumb luck led me to a drawer full of unused Lyra Rembrandt Splender Colorless Blenders. I bought them years ago. In just a few pencil strokes I could see and feel a major difference in the overall drawing process. Like buttah, the blender seamlessly- almost magically worked over all of the previous instabilities of mismatched mediums. Knock on wood - I'm near completion and things are going along quite smoothly (photos to follow soon). This tween of a painting is finally behaving! Can't wait to varnish and be done with it already. I love Lyra Splender and intend on using it a lot more in the future.
Almost makes we want to try my hand at the two smaller textured panels - almost. I foresee an exchange in the near future.
P.S. I Googled Lyra Rembrandt Splender Colorless Blender. Here are four quick facts on this product:
1) They're made in Germany - Ich liebe Deutschland!
2) Dick Blick sells them in open stock, which I find highly appealing.
3) They're similar to oil based pencils but are drier and not chalky (so true).
4) Artist and CPSA member Liesl Huddleston has a write-up filled with more info on Splender. Check it out here.
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