Avon Boat, a work in progress

Here is the piece I was working on when I took a break yesterday to play with pastels. It is Neocolor and colored pencil on a 12 x 6 inch pastel board.




This is the first stage, where I colored the board with Neocolor crayons,
paying attention to value contrasts.

Here is the second step, where I washed the Neocolor with water, blending and covering the grey board.





Avon Boat
12 x 6 inches
colored pencil on pastel board
copyright 2007 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky




And here is the final drawing, after having worked the entire surface with colored pencil. What I like about this working this way is that not only does it speed up the drawing process but also the Neocolors have more color intensity and are more opaque than colored pencil alone, so it seems to add a depth to the piece.

All of these landscape images relate to the idea of souvenirs, saving the memory of a special place in time. A mountain hike or a quiet moment by the water somewhere, it's the feeling of that place that I am drawn to capture in images. This particular boat interested me because of the color and strong contrast present in the bright sunlight. It's from a little place on Hatteras Island, a place I love for it's sense of tranquility. Hatteras Island has managed to escape most of the development that plagues many beach communities. Even a little further on up the coast, in Nags Head, there is a different energy, a nervous kind of feeling from the endless array of strip malls, discount stores and putt-putt golf places all lined up beside the zooming four lane highway. I prefer the tranquility of Avon on Hatteras and I hope this drawing expresses that.