Pencil Art Is Real Art

Posted on June 4, 2025 by SusanG

That title is more a declaration to myself than to anyone else. Here’s why.

I started out to write this with a set belief or idea in my head and then I did a little research.

My original idea was to write about the pencil portrait I posted on the socials over the weekend and about working in pencil and how it seemed that pencil isn’t really considered a fine art medium. I was going to ask the question of how many artistic masterpieces in pencil you see or even know of. Before I published that I thought I should answer that for myself and so I went to the internet and found that I have been living with quite a misconception about pencil art. And now I have to reevaluate what I think and believe. I think that’s a good thing, by the way. Because one of the things I realized as I was drawing that portrait is how much I enjoy working in pencil.

I think I’ve said it before, the pencil is my magic wand. I started out working in pencil. And for that matter, my fist “real” artworks were pencil portraits. How good those early portraits were is certainly up for debate. Even so, that’s where I started. And for me the pencil is more than just a tool. It is and extension of my hand and eye. Again, it is my magic wand. 

Unfortunately, my misconception has had me working in nearly everything but pencil, except for some sketches, for the last few years. What is or was, my misconception? That Art, “real” art, isn’t made with pencil, because pencil art is somehow inferior. “Real Art” has to be in color and it has to be paint or pastel, unless of course it’s sculpture or photography. Even ink drawings were borderline in this evaluation. The question then becomes, where did this come from? 

I would say that this idea came from a lack of exposure, and a lack of curiosity. Most of the fine art wall art I’ve seen praised and lauded, that wasn’t photography, has been paintings of one medium or another. That’s the exposure side. On the curiosity side? I never thought to question if pencil was used as anything more than a tool to jot down artistic ideas or make references for grander works. But when I did go to look for more information about works of art in pencil I found pieces by Albrecht Durer, Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Luca Signorelli, Orest Kiprensky, William Blake, Edgar Degas, Ilya Repin, and Vincent van Gogh, to list a few. And yes, some are studies for grander works, and yet recognized in their own right as masterful pieces of art.

A personal note here. I like some of van Gogh’s pencil drawings better than some of his more famous paintings. But maybe that is a topic for another post. After I do a little more research.

I honestly didn’t expect to find historical or “classical” artworks in pencil that were considered notable, of relevance, or even masterful for anything other than being sketches or studies for more significant and larger paintings. And even those, for some reason I expected to be in charcoal. And that comes down to not really having a good grasp of the history of the modern pencil. Which is really ironic given that many years ago I actually worked for the pencil manufacturing company Dixon Ticonderoga. Yeah, that famous No. 2 pencil. Also a story for another time.

Now that I have this new information, what happens. Is it going to change how I look at much of the art that I have created over the years? Yes. Is it going to impact my art going forward? Probably. Is it going to change the direction and focus of my art? Possibly.  

Here’s the thing. Yes, I love working in pencil and I am so comfortable with it that it would be easy to say I’m just going to do pencil art from now on. I’ve had similar “revelations” lately about other things and you know, I’m just not going to make that declaration. I’ve done that before and then felt trapped and promptly changed my mind and focus. For now, I’m going to create artwork using whatever medium feels right at the time and go from there. I think I will try to enjoy the freedom to work in pencil if I choose, with the idea that it really is a fine art medium and there is nothing inferior about art made with pencil. 

And yes, I should realize this because there are amazing modern artists doing work in the hyper-realistic field who create the most astounding pieces of art that look like black and white photographs and they use pencil. I don’t consider their work any less impressive than the masters of old. It’s amazing how our misconceptions can impact our value of our work. It certainly has mine. I think I will be evaluating and valuing my art, especially my pencil art, a bit differently now. 

Maybe in a future post I will discuss some of what I like about working in pencil. I might even dig up a little history to go with it.

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About That Pen

Posted on May 29, 2025 by SusanG

Remember that pen I spent over an hour looking for, that I finally found waiting in plain sight? I was asked about it, and basically the question was why it mattered, was it for something special. My response was that I just happened to want to use it for some writing I was going to do. And while that was true, there is a little more to it than that. 

I have four, maybe five, pens that I consider nice or fancy. Two of them really are, at least as far as I can tell and the other two are more just nice and you can get refills for them. One of those is one that is made of wood and has my middle name carved or etched into it. I got that instead of my first name because they were out of my first name and I wouldn’t get a chance to see if they were going to get my first name because they were closing. In addition to it having my name etched into it, it also has Cypress Gardens etched into it. I bought, or it was bought for me, when I visited Cypress Gardens just before it closed. The other one just showed up at my home one day. I think someone left it. It happens to have a nice metal barrel and is well balanced and a nice weight. Neither of these were the focus of that search.

The pen that was, is one of the for sure nice pens. I have two Cross pens that were gifts when I was a teen, one for Christmas and the other, I believe, was for my high-school graduation. I knew where the one from Christmas was. I still have it in the case so it’s easier to keep track of. The graduation one was the one I was looking for. I don’t remember if it came in a nice case originally. It did come with a padded sleeve to keep it in just like the one with the case. Anyway, because it only has the sleeve it can be a little harder to keep track of. This particular pen has a nice matte black finish with the bits of gold trim and I happen to like the feel of it.

What I was writing wasn’t anything special, just some notes for some projects, I think. But I wanted to write with that pen because sometimes writing with the fancier or nicer stuff can lead to a shift in thought or perspective. And honestly it wasn’t that I was consciously looking for that shift in perspective, it had more to do with feel. I wanted that solid feel of the metal, and the even weight, and the way it would glide across the paper. It was purely for the aesthetics of the experience that I wanted to write with it.

I’m also trying to remember to “use my good stuff”. If we are fortunate to have a nice something, pen, set of dishes, instrument, whatever, many of us, I think, succumb to the mindset of saving the good stuff for a special occasion. Often without defining what that special occasion might be. 

So. I was going to do some writhing and wanted to use my “fancy” pen. 

And that’s the story of the pen, that I spent and hour or more looking for.

In other news. 

I did get to spend some time painting and drawing this past weekend, as I had planned, though not nearly as much as I planned. And though I’m a little disappointed at that I’m really happy about the reason and the results. I spent a good bit of Sunday cleaning up, cleaning out, and reorganizing the studio. And it feels so good now. For some reason I tend try to put too much stuff in there and end up crowding myself out and gumming up the works. So cleaning out the studio was a good thing. I then spent large chunks of Monday working on a drawing in the fresh, uncrowded atmosphere of a clean studio. It was heaven.

Art wise I don’t have a lot new to share. I did more work on the taekwondo painting and it feels more complete now. I also did a bit of a glaze over the flower part of the flower painting to add some color depth. I have not started paint on the other painting yet. I haven’t decided if I’m going to start it before my upcoming Orlando trip for the day job, or wait until after I get back. It will likely depend on how compelling it becomes between now and then. 

And that’s all I’ve got for this week. 

Cheers!

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To Fix or Not

Posted on May 21, 2025 by SusanG

To fix or not mostly refers to my posting schedule, and only a little to my current paintings. As you might have figured out, I got my posting schedule a little messed up. I was trying to get back on track except that just wasn’t happening. So I decided to just wing it and start again since I basically missed last week. I really don’t want to write excuses for that and you don’t want to read excuses and navel gazing for the why of that so I’m just going to jump in with what I’ve been working on. And some of my thoughts on that. Because I think it’s more interesting.  

The current flower painting. I got to a point that I think it could be finished and have been letting it sit while I decide if it’s complete or if I still want to do work on it. I’m honestly torn. Part of me wants to call it done and part of me thinks I should do a little work on the flower. The purple is really dark and I have thought about trying to brighten it up by pulling out some of the purple and leaving behind something of a magenta like color for glow. Then again, I like the intensity and power of the purple. 

There is one other thing I am considering in the decision to adjust or not. And it is a factor in the other painting I’m working on. That has to do with  the way I’m going to protect it when I finish it. I’ve started using a wax to seal the paint so it’s not as susceptible to water damage. I like it. But what I’ve noticed, particularly with blues, is that it does lift some of the color as I’m sealing it, I see the color on my rag, and I lose some intensity. Because of that, and not knowing how it’s going to do with the purple, or the asphalt for that matter, I’m considering leaving the flower dark and rich in color just in case.

The other painting I’m working on is a Taekwondo painting. And I think I let it sit too long between sketch and paint. I lost a bit of reference and feel for it, even though I had the photo reference. I still lost the thread a bit. Probably because I did the flower and it’s such a different vibe. Anyway. There were a few areas that I wasn’t quite sure about my reference lines. This was partly because when I did the drawing I zoomed in on my reference photo quite a bit to see them and since for the color I wasn’t doing that it made it a bit more of a puzzle as to what I meant. And also because, even where I know what I meant, it had been long enough that I had to decide if that was a dark or light shape I wanted there. 

I’ve also been a little concerned the last day or so that I was completely messing it up. I have been worried I was getting too heavy handed for what I am painting. It was especially worrying when I was looking at it wet. As I was working on it and the paper was so wet it was buckling where I was working, the combination of water, paint, warp, and shadow made it look really messy and dark. With the previous taekwondo painting my whites and shadows are a bit more very white with not quite as deep shadows as compared to this one. Then again, when I used the wax to seal the previous painting, in the places where I had tried to make my shadows more intense, I lost some of that depth. And since I know I don’t want to lose that with this painting, I’m making some things darker. Also, there is a lot of white on white paper and I’m trying to differentiate enough that you can see the form so I’ve decided to sort of tint the areas that are whiter or lighter to help them stand out against the paper. 

I’ve got another painting sketch done. It doesn’t have quite the same type of reference lines so hopefully I won’t get lost when I get ready to add paint. Which may happen soon. I am really making good progress on the taekwondo one and the flower is so close to being called done that I could be starting paint on this new one in days. It’s more along the lines of the painting I did of the man with the bucket. It’s from an ‘old’ photo though not near as old as the photo I referenced for the man with the bucket. That one is 60 years old, this one might be 20. Still, it’s cute and I think it will be a fun one. 

That’s all I’ve got for this week. We do have a holiday weekend coming up and after I spend Saturday patching servers and doing some other maintenance for the day job, I’m planning on painting and drawing and painting and drawing for the rest of the weekend. If you need me I’ll be in the studio. 

Cheers!

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Not Much to Tell

Posted on May 10, 2025 by SusanG

I’m really late getting this posted this week because, there just isn’t a lot to share. I made a trip up to the photographer to pick up the artwork I dropped off last week. And I got the flower painting I was working on to the point of needing to let it sit for a while before I either make adjustments or declare it finished. Last time I looked at it, I think I’m going to make a few adjustments. 

I have two things I’m ready to work on. The taekwondo kick painting will be getting paint and I am about to begin the sketch for a new painting. That’s all the updates I have for those right now. 

I was back to work at the day job this week after a week off and I’ve not gotten quite as much done as I had hoped. Still I’m happy with the progress on the flower painting so I consider that a win. 

I’m going to post a photo of the painting as it currently is while it sits for a bit.

Cheers!

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I Found The Pen

Posted on May 2, 2025 by SusanG

That title makes little sense if you didn’t see a post I made a few days ago about spending an hour looking for a particular pen because I wanted to use it to write something. So I’ll back up a bit and then fill you in on things.

First off, I’ve been on vacation from the day job this week. I usually take the last week of April, that includes the last few days of April and first couple of days of May, off from the day job. Most of the time it ends up being a staycation, though two years ago my awesome sister treated me to a trip to Paris. Well, she covered the flight, we split the rest. It was still awesome. We thought about making another trip this year but with the state of things right now, we decided not to. 

Anyway. This week has been a staycation. I have several administrative things I need to do and more than a few pieces of art I want to work on and that’s what I planned on doing. And then, Sunday morning I woke up and saw on one of the socials that the museum in the city was just opening an exhibit of the work of Annie Leibovitz. After some research and deciding that Tuesday would be a better day to go, I planned to sit down and do some of the planning work I wanted to do. But, I wanted a specific pen for the work, because I do like to do that type of work with pen and paper. Problem was that I couldn’t find the pen. I could see it in my head, I knew I’d seen it recently but where. I spent an hour looking for it, maybe more. 

By the time I reluctantly gave up actively looking for the pen, I’d shifted into thinking about some of the cleaning I needed to do and decided to start with the one place that I knew exactly what needed to be removed and cleaned and organized. The balcony storage. Yes, the balcony that tends to have wasp issues. It felt really good to get that all cleared out, even if most of it sits behind a closed door. I think as much as our things exist in the physical world, they also take up space in our head, and cleaning out things can be a bit like clearing out the brain. It’s nice. 

I did go to the museum on Tuesday. I really dislike driving in the city here, and parking is a nightmare, and expensive. Even with that, I decided that I needed to make the effort to go because, well, it would be a bit of a treat for myself. And it was. I didn’t really think I was that unusual in regards to the things I’ve paid attention to over the years. But perhaps I was more in tune with some things than I realized. I say this because I’ve mentioned the Annie Leibovitz exhibit to a few people and then had to explain to them who she is. Anyway, I got something from going that I can’t quite explain. I suppose some would call it inspiration, that’s not it as far as how I experience inspiration. It also wasn’t quite motivation. Whatever it was, I’m really glad I went. And for those of you who might not know who Annie Leibovitz is she’s a photographer and has taken some iconic and amazing photos, and portraits, think Rolling Stones, and Rolling Stone magazine, Vanity Fair, and Vogue. 

In addition to the administrative stuff that I had planned for the week, that it took me a few days to actually get started on, my plans for the week included working on some art. Which I have done. That flower piece? I’ve worked on it and made some really good progress. The build of the color is down and now it’s time to work the details. I’m actually really happy with it so far. The other piece I have ready to be worked on is the next taekwondo painting. I have had to fiddle with an area or two a few times and finally have things right enough to start paint. It’s both exciting and nerve racking. 

Now to finding the pen. I was looking for something else today, some papers I want for an appointment coming up. In the course of looking for them I managed to do my filing and a bit of tidying of my desk. Both are feats of proportion. This lead me to something else that lead to something else and in the process, as I cleaned reminder notes off my desk there it was. The pen. Sitting in plain sight. I guess sometimes, what we are looking for really is right in front of us if we can only see it. 

It’s ok, I didn’t expect to get philosophical in this post either. I really just wanted to give a quick update and say hello. I’m off to do more painting, administrative work, and get ready for a trip to the photographer to drop off some artwork. 

Cheers

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