Jeff George's new Pencil Storage

This is about a new pencil storage system for his art studio - devised by Jeff George CPSA, one of the the USA's leading coloured pencil artists.

Like others, he got inspiration for a new system when viewing what was on offer in IKEA.

If you're not a coloured pencil artist you need to understand that pencil artists have a habit of acquiring a huge number of pencils - plus back-ups for if they run out - but they present a real problem when it comes to storage.

I got inspired to revise my studio pencil storage system while recently walking through an Ikea store. Meet Skadis. My new pencil storage system with removable metal trays.Square metal cups and other attachable containers were also an option for this system, but I opted for the trays.

The trays hold the pencils and hook onto the peg board

I have labeled and lined each of the 20 trays, and will install small rubber picture frame bumpers (or felt) on the tray bottoms. (Note: I modified the welded hooks on two of the trays to be able to hang 7 trays to a panel instead of the normal 6.)

The trays shown contain the largest set of each brand listed. Luminance 76 set used 2 trays. Prismacolor 150 set used 4 trays etc. The brands I use the most are on the bottom half. (The Lightfast trays at the top are empty placeholders as I await Derwent's release of a larger set.)

Three Skadis peg boards and 20 Trays

The hundreds of extra replacement pencils which I have are organized and tucked away nearby, ready to quickly replace any of these pencils as they wear down. The goal is to always keep a full set available in the trays.

I'm happy with my solution. It was low cost, fits an out of view nook of my studio, and I can change out brands, and add more if I need to. Cheers.

However the system Jeff has come up with could actually be used for other art materials (tubes / jars of paint etc). What I like about it is that it both allows for simple and accessible storage - with everything sorted - and the storage doubles up as the container when the pencils are in use. They just unhook from the peg board.

About Skadis

I'm not sure of the dimensions of Jeff's system but took a look at the IKEA UK site - and there are lots of options for useful ways to store art media "stuff"

• Skadis is pegboard by IKEA.  It costs £31.50 for a 76 x 56 cm (various sizes are available ) steel board with Epoxy/polyester powder coating
• The trays cost £3 each. They're also made of steel with Epoxy/polyester powder coating and hook on to the peg board.
• There are lots of options for various ways to store "stuff" on the peg board

PS. My new Raskog kitchen trolley  from IKEA is about to be made up for for storing my tubs of coloured pencils - so they can be wheeled around!

About Jeff George

Jeff studied at the Otis Art Institute and School of Design. He retired recently and moved from California to Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2002, he joined the Colored Pencil Society of America and since then he's been very busy winning prizes almost every year including the following top prizes

• 2008 - Empty Nest
• 2009 - Life and Death
• 2015 - What So Proudly We Hailed

His work has also been featured in several art publications in the USA.

Derwent Art Prize 2013 - Selected Works & Artists

This is the Gallery of  Artwork selected for The Derwent Art Prize.

Below you can find the list of artists with the works selected for the Derwent Art Prize Exhibition.

This post follows on from my earlier posts:

• The Derwent Art Prize - a discussion (20 July 2012)
• NEW! The Derwent Art Prize - for pencil art (November 2012)

Derwent Art Prize - a further selection of the images in the Website Gallery

For some reason it was announced in any old order - neither alphabetical by first name, surname or title of the work. Which is great if you believe that the alphabet plays a part in selection and not so good if you're looking for the name of a particular artist!

I've reordered them into an alphabetical order - see below.

The link in the artist's name is to their website - if they have one.  One of the reasons I've done this (this post has taken two days to write!) is because I think all those who are critical of the selection should maybe take a longer look at the artwork produced by the artists whose artwork has been selected.

There's always a question of taste when it comes to selection - but there's also a question of the extent to which people have dedicated their lives to being a contemporary artist and the extent to which this is recognised by people viewing the work.

The link in the title of the work is to the web page where you can see a large image of the pencil art selected by the judges.  I've then given the art medium used - although I understand there was no scope to state if more than one pencil medium had been used

I'm also including references I can find to any other prizes they've been selected for and/or won - in part to illustrate to those who are questioning the selection that more than one set of judges has rated an artist's work.

Derwent Art Prize - Selected Works & Artists

Introducing The Pencil Art Society

A new art society has been formed to promote pencil art and pencil artists.

The Pencil Art Society arrives complete with:

• a website - http://pencilartsociety.com/ 
• a Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/PencilArtSociety/ - which has already acquired 521 members
• a Twitter account - https://twitter.com/PencilArtTweets

All they need now is a blog!  They say they have one - but I can't find a link to it - so if anybody comes across it do please let me know.

Title and strapline of the Pencil Art Society
I'm definitely not a fan of the colour scheme - I find it gloomy.

I have to say I'm not surprised that a new society for pencil artists should be created for the following reasons:

• there was no art society purely dedicated to pencil art in all its forms
• there's a big overlap between those who create art in graphite and those who create art in coloured pencils
• many pencil artists are dedicated to art created using dry media but are less enamoured with increasingly narrow definitions about what's eligible media for exhibitions.

This society has a distinctly Canadian - and female - feel to it plus the membership fee is in Canadian dollars.

• Alexandra Bastien, Founder Member, President and Exhibition Director comes from and lives in Quebec
• Erica Walker, Founder Member, Vice President and Education Director lives in Ontario
• Lissa Rachelle Robillard Founder Membe, Secretary and Web Services Director lives in Ontario

All but two of the members to date (as listed on the website) are women.

Purpose of the Pencil Art Society

The Pencil Art Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the recognition of pencil media, specifically graphite pencil and coloured pencil, as fine art.

I've reworked their phrasing of their purpose to highlight what i see as the key aspects of its proposed focus and activities - as follows

Vote for your favourite coloured pencils in 2013

Every year I run a poll to detect the trends in popularity of both artist grade coloured pencils and watercolour pencils.  Tomorrow, on Making A Mark Reviews, I'll be publishing the results of the 2012 Polls and comparing these results to previous years.

However I'd like to invite you to VOTE for the brand you think is the BEST and your preferred brand in 2013 in two Opinion Polls covering artist grade coloured pencils and watercolour pencils (click the links below to go straight to the polls)

• 2013 POLL: Which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil?
• 2013 POLL: What's your favourite watercolour pencil?

You can find these polls on my website Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists

A selection of the various brands of coloured pencils I use while sketching
They include: Caran d'Ache Pablo, Caran d'Ache Luminance, Derwent Artists, Derwent Coloursoft,
Derwent Signature, Faber Castell Polychromos, Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour, Karisma

Artist Grade Coloured Pencils

Not every brand is included.  The brands included this year are

• Blick Studio Artists
• Bruynzeel Sakura
• Caran d'Ache - Luminance (6901)
• Caran d'Ache - Neocolor II
• Caran d'Ache - Pablo
• Cretacolor Karmina
• Derwent Artist
• Derwent Coloursoft
• Derwent Drawing
• Derwent Studio
• Faber Castell Polychromos
• Holbein Artists
• Koh I Noor Polycolor
• Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor
• Mitsubishi Uni
• Prismacolor Art Stix
• Prismacolor Premier
• Prismacolor Verithin
• Soho Urban Artists
• Talens Van Gogh (6901)
• Tombow Irojiten
• Utrecht Premium

To vote click Which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil?

Watercolour Pencils

The brands of watercolour pencils identified for the 2013 Poll are:

• Caran d'Ache Supracolor Aquarelle
• Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle
• Caran d'Ache Museum
• Cretacolor Aqua Monolith (Woodless)
• Cretacolor Aquarell
• Daler-Rowney Artists' Watercolour
• Derwent Aquatone (Woodless)
• Derwent Graphitint
• Derwent Inktense
• Derwent Watercolour
• Faber Castell Albrecht Durer
• General's Kimberley Thin Lead Watercolor
• Lyra Rembrandt Aquarell
• Sanford Prismacolor Watercolor
• Staedtler Karat Aquarell
• Talens Van Gogh Watercolour

To vote click What's your favourite watercolour pencil?

Watch out for the results of the 2012 Polls - due to be published on Making A Mark Reviews tomorrow

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'Legal' coloured pencils for CPSA International Exhibition

The Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) announced a list of coloured pencils defined as legal products for the purposes of entering CPSA exhibitions last week. 
(See Facebook entry dated 14th December on the CPSA Official Facebook Page)

Legal AND Lightfast and Suitable for Artists?

"Legal" and "lightfast" and "suitable for artists" are three different sets of credentials.  This list only relates to the first category.

• "Legal" means they are accepted as "colored pencil products" for the purposes of entries for the International Exhibition - where CPSA limits media to colored pencils only
• "Lightfast" means they comply with the defined standard for lightfastness in colored pencils - ASTM D6901 - 06 Standard Specification for Artists' Colored Pencils  
• see CPSA statement About Lightfastness 
• see the approved Lightfastness Standard - D6901)

This standard specification establishes quality requirements for composition, performance, and labeling of artists' colored pencils. This specification also covers vehicles and additives. Labeling requirements shall include company or brand name, identification number, country of origin, colour index names, lightfastness, pencil type, name and address of manufacturer, constitution number, toxicity, and statement of conformance. Additives for colored pencils shall include thickeners, preservatives, surfactants, wax, oil, and humectants. The pencil shall be capable of applying an even coating without scratch marks and without excessive breaking. Lightfastness, color difference test, exposure to natural daylight through window glass, and exposure to Xenon-arc radiation shall be done in accordance with the ASTM standard testing method using white, uncoated, neutral pH, buffered paper or board, without optical brighteners.ASTM D6901 - 06 Standard Specification for Artists' Colored Pencils

• see section on Lightfastness in Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists
• In creating the list CPSA also defined which pencils it has tested for lightfastness - but this is NOT the same as statements by CPSA as to which pencils they regard as lightfast.  I've seen the test results and some brands do poorly with respect to certain colours and only a few do well in relation to certain colours.  (If you're concerned about lightfastness, it's well worth joining CPSA just to get the CPSA Lightfastness Handbook!)
• "Suitable for artists" is usually used as a proxy for a certain quality of pencil intended for artists and fine art (eg pigment rich, lightfast) - rather than students or children.  Clearly some of the pencils in the list are designed for students or children and would normally not be considered to be suitable for artists / fine art per se.  However it should be noted that even eminent artists when working in other media do not always choose to use media which will remain robust and maintain colour over time!

I use coloured pencils for sketching
from a number of different brands

List of colored pencil products eligible for use in the CPSA International Exhibition

Below are the lists of pencils.  I've organised the four groups of pencils published on the CPSA website (wax and oil based; watersoluble;  woodless and woodless/watersoluble) into groups under the name of the manufacturer and provided the link to the manufacturers website in their name

Note that CPSA has

• NOT accredited all pencils as suitable for artists and 
• NOT accredited all pencils as lightfast.  Those which have been tested for lightfastness are marked with a T.  However tested for lightfastness is NOT the same as being accredited as lightfast.

The coloured pencils listed below are wax and oil based unless otherwise indicated

NEW! The Derwent Art Prize - for pencil art

Derwent Pencils today announced The Derwent Art Prize - a brand new art prize for artists working in pencil.  The winner will receive £5,000 so I expect this new art competition may well generate some considerable interest amongst pencil artists working with coloured pencils, water-soluble pencils, pastel pencils, graphite or charcoal.

I think it's a brilliant idea and recommend all those who draw to take a close look at the details.

The Derwent Art Prize

Aim of the Competition

The aim of the Prize is to reward excellence through showcasing the very best international works created in pencil.

Inaugural Exhibition

It's expected that some 80 works will be selected for the exhibition - which will then be displayed in three different ways