Elaineabella here with a Marker Geek Monday post for you!

Now, I know, it is still summer. Believe me, I know. I’m over it. Every year, around July/August I start longing for October, and I have a deep desire to colour all of the autumn related things. This works pretty well for all the release colouring I tend to do around this time (hint, I just finished the next release and it is brilliant), but not so well for getting all the fun summer themed stuff done. Oh well! Anyway, I’m still in a bit of a funk, but I’ve been feeling drawn to my coloured pencils, so I thought I would play around do a little autumn themed colouring.

As a follow on from my last Marker Geek Monday post HERE, I decided to use blending solution with my pencils again, which is something I fell out of love with years ago. Here, now, in 2018, I’m back in love. Hooray! I spent a little time testing out some of the blending solution options I have on hand, to see what worked best, with each of my coloured pencils.

I won’t go into the testing in full depth, but a few observations for you:

• Out of the options I have on hand, Winsor & Newton Sansodor performed best, closely followed by Zest It Pencil Blend. The Sansodor seemed to move the pigment around a little more.
• Copic Colourless Blender worked quite well, which is good to know in a pinch! Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) would also work.
• I did not care for Turpenoid at all, and I didn’t find the results to be that great.
• The paper you use, as always, makes a difference. It isn’t always a huge difference, but it is often noticeable. Moving the pigment around on my preferred paper vs a cheap plain cardstock was much easier, although the cheaper cardstock did also yield decent end results.

That’s it for now, I’ll leave you with today’s colouring and my dreams of autumn…

Stamp Used: The Littles Pumpkin Friends (coordinating die also available)

I stamped the image on hot press watercolour paper and coloured using Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils with Sansodor to blend.

Colours Used: Skin – Light Flesh, Cinnamon, Medium Flesh, Dark Sepia Hair – Bistre, Burnt Sienna, Dark Sepia Scarf & Pumpkin Stalks – May Green, Olive Green Yellowish Dress – Violet, Mauve, Dark Sepia Pumpkins – Terra cotta, Sanguine, Burnt Sienna Hedgehog – Nougat, Van Dyck Brown Fox – Nougat, Sanguine, Indian Red Ground – Bistre, Van Dyck Brown, Dark Sepia Sky – Light Ultramarine, Ultramarine

Note: One thing I remembered while colouring was that my least favourite thing about colouring using this method has always been colouring skin. It always turns out a little dirty/patchy looking to me. With that in mind, I’ll probably grab my Copics for that area next time, or use the pencils without the blending solution.

Over To You!

What do you prefer to do when colouring with coloured pencils? Do you use a blending solution, or just the pencils?

Share your personal favourite Stamping Bella creations with us. We LOVE to see what you’ve been creating with Stamping Bella stamps. Share a link to your latest Stamping Bella card in the comments below, or an old favourite you made a while ago. Tell us what your favourite stamps are. Are there any additions you would like to see to the range? Let us know!

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Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!

MWAH

Elaineabella