Colored Pencil on Marble Dust Board with Libby Kyer

Description: Bring sparkle and light to your subjects in a new way. Colored pencil on marble dust board provides a challenging and satisfying way to extend your colored pencil skills, resulting in a vibrant painting. Experiment with new mixing techniques, handling rough surfaces to render smooth details, using the board as the mid-tone in you colored pencil painting and other neat tricks. KOZO will provide the archival boards. The materials you’ll need to bring are listed below. This class is limited to 15 participants, so register early.

All Materials are available at KOZO

Materials List for Class

Sharpener – electric portable recommended
Kneaded eraser                                  
Pink Pearl eraser
Graphite pencils – 2H and 2B               
Scotch removable tape                         
Brush - #2 to #4 watercolor with a good point.
Sketch Paper/Pad – 9x12”, 3 or 4 sheets, newsprint is great!
Tracing vellum, 9x12”, 2 sheets

Colored Pencils: Caran d’Ache Pablos are recommended, at a minimum 2 reds, 2 blues, 2 greens, 2 yellows, 2 oranges, sepia, indigo, white, black and 10% gray. Look for a cool red, warm red, cool blue, warm blue etc., in tonal values you like for the paired hues. Any other colored pencils you have will be useful, but check to make sure your colors are as lightfast as possible. Please have all pencils well sharpened.

1 sheet at least 8x10” white Saral transfer paper

Libby Kyer Bio-

Libby Kyer works in colored pencil, graphite, carbon, water media, ink, and computer, creating artworks reflecting her take on reality, with carefully observed realism. As a professed control freak, she finds these demands satisfy her love of science and intricate detail.

 Libby tells us, “I believe humans are hard-wired to make order out of chaos. Finding the order in nature helps us to understand life in all its aspects.”

 Her favorite medium is colored pencil. “I find the medium leads you, taking you to new explorations as an artist. Colored pencil can be used on many, many grounds, and new pigment formulations provide the artist with lightfast, archival, rich pigments that rival oil and watercolor hues. Colored pencils are portable, and allow me to take my art with me wherever I go.”

 She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, is editor for the ASBA Journal The Botanical Artist and is an instructor the last 11 years at the Denver Botanic Gardens' Certificate Program in Botanical Art and Illustration in graphite, ink, mixed media, and colored pencil. She is a member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Florilegium Society, and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. Workshops in sites scattered around the country and internationally allow her to share her techniques and tips with other artists passionate about nature.

 Her award-winning works have been included in national and international juried exhibits. A selection of exhibits includes:

Botanica Spectaculum, Denver CO 2011
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens, England, 2010/2011
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation 12^th International Exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA 2009

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, CA 2009

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, NY 2008

Ursus Gallery, NY, NY 2008

Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK 2008

The Wildlife Experience Museum, CO 2008

Curtis Arts & Humanities Center, CO 2006