Coloring Simply

When I paint, I use only the primary colors, a manner called the “double primary palette”. This is because it has 2 yellows, 2 blues, and 2 reds. (White doesn’t count and the purple at the end is a mix I always make when I begin painting.)

This is a colored pencil version of that simple collection of colors.

You may recall that I bought a box of 12 colored pencils recently and really liked the way they work. My favorite non-drawing pencils are Blackwings, so I was eager to try their colored pencils. You may also recall that I thought it was too bad the box only held 12 colors, 2 of which aren’t very useful to me – black and silver. This box does not contain the double primary palette; although there are 2 blues, there is only one red and one yellow. (2 greens don’t count because green is not a primary color.)

On the January Three Rivers First Saturday, I hung out at Anne Lang’s Emporium with coloring books and oil paintings. While I was in between visitors, I experimented with the Blackwing (weird – shouldn’t these be called “colorwing”?) colored pencils. Could I create the full range of colors as if I had one of my sets of 120 (either Polychromos or Prismacolor)? 

Here are the results. 2 of the grape clusters, part of the trunk and a few of the leaves were colored with the large set of pencils. The rest was done with only 10 colors from the box above.

Nice, eh? Layering and layering and layering. . . still lots of white paper to be covered here.

P.S. This page is from the coloring book Heart of Agriculture, and I haven’t found the hidden heart yet in spite of the fact that I am the one who drew this picture.

P.P.S. The colored pencils are available on this site: Pencils.com The wood is California cedar, the company is in Stockton, and the pencils themselves are manufactured in Japan. They are $19.95 for a set of 12, plus all the usual add-ons like exorbitant sales tax and shipping.

Remember When Life was Simpler?

Life used to be simpler. We have gizmos, devices, technology now that is supposed to make our lives easier, but think about these things:

  • Remember when your phone didn’t follow you everywhere, demanding continual response?
  • Remember when you could just go to the doctor and get help without filling out reams of papers, and wondering if you would be able to afford the visit?
  • Remember when you didn’t have to know the name of medicines and their possible side effects?
  • Remember when you just ate food and didn’t think about glycemic index, cholesterol, gluten, veganism, or happy chickens?
  • Remember when you had never heard of identity theft?
  • Remember when people didn’t cuss on TV or talk about private body functions and then try to sell medicine for them?
  • Remember when you had never heard of a “carbon footprint”?
  • Remember when you never considered whether something was organic or local or sustainable?
  • Remember when you could have a lawn without feeling guilty about it?
  • Remember when a fire in the fireplace was a normal guilt-free way to add warmth and comfort to a cold evening?
  • Remember when you only needed a password if you were playing a spy game with a friend? Something common, like “open sesame”?
  • Remember when “carbs” were called “starches”?
  • Remember when the only thing you backed up was your car, and you did it by putting your arm across the back of the seat and actually turned your head instead of watching a little television?
  • Remember when you could ride in the back of a pick-up? Or drink from the garden hose?
  • Remember when there were drinking fountains and no one carried around expensive bottles of water? You drank when you were thirsty, not when you needed to “hydrate”. . . “Hydrate”?? What is the matter with everyone?
  • Remember when you wore sneakers for every activity?
  • Remember back before you had heard of “plantar fasciitis”, “carpal tunnel syndrome”, “irritable bowel”, “acid reflux”?
  • Remember when you got home from vacation, and all you had to do was collect the mail at the post office?

Yeah.

That’s why people like to color. It returns us to a simpler activity that we enjoyed in simpler times. It requires no special skill, no guilt, no medical terminology, no technology or user name.

This is why I made a coloring book. Easy. Simple. No password required.

Heart of the Hills

Heart of the Hills: a Three Rivers and Sequoia Coloring Book  is available at the Three Rivers Mercantile, Kaweah River Trading Company, Three Rivers Historical Museum or here.

That last one probably will require a user name and password. If you see me around, I’ll have a few in the trunk of my car. We can do business that way. Simple.

$15 each plus tax. Easy.