Leisure Painter - UK (2019-06)

52 JUNE 2019 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

I

t is important to use papers that are,

at least, acid free for your artwork, as

very cheap papers made from wood

pulp go brittle and brown, the way old

newspapers do. The best, and often the

most expensive, have a high percentage

of cotton fibres, up to 100 per cent, and

will possibly say that they are archival.

There are too many good papers to be

named in an article, but if you go to your

nearest art shop, they often have small

samples of paper that you can try, or they

will advise you. If you are computer

literate, ask advice on the various coloured

pencil social media sites, such as the UK

Coloured Pencil Society Facebook page.

If your pictures are going to be passed

down the generations, it will also help if

you use the most lightfast pencils. In many

coloured-pencil ranges there are often a

lot of fugitive colours. Unless you buy the

most expensive ranges that are guaranteed

lightfast, such as the Caran d’Ache

Luminance, Derwent Lightfast or, slightly

cheaper but also of high lightfastness,

Van Gogh pencils, you have to be careful

where and how your pictures are

displayed. In many ranges with varying

proportions of lightfast and fugitive

colours, there are often ratings for the

lightfastness on each pencil so you can

check which have the best ratings and

keep those, and buy lightfast alternatives

for the fugitive ones from lightfast ranges

that sell individual pencils in the colour

you want.

It will help pictures to last longer if the

pictures are hung in places that do not

have direct or too much reflected sunlight.

You can have your pictures framed with

UV resistant glass or perspex for more

protection. Some fixatives have UV filters,

but it is best to test spray colours on

a scrap of paper first, as I have heard that

some colours can change after spraying

fixative and very dark colours can take on

a shinier appearance. If your pencils are

not lightfast, the framing and location

make an immense difference to whether

they will fade or not. Don’t forget to ask

for acid-free or archival mountboard and

backing paper when you are framing

your work, as this will also help.

Coloured papers

Coloured papers vary in their

lightfastness. Here are just a few of the

ones that are most lightfast, but there

are others. St Cuthberts – Bockingford,

Saunders Waterford and Somerset Velvet

coloured papers, including black – are

all very lightfast, with lightfastness at least

six on the Blue Wool Scale. (I have tested

many of them and agree!). It is stated

that Clairefontaine Pastelmat papers are

water-resistant, and come in eight

archival, lightfast colours. Fabriano

coloured papers also state that they are

Derwentwater, Surprise View, coloured pencil on Art Spectrum Colourfix Smooth white paper, 12^1 ⁄ 4 x 173 ⁄ 4 in. (31x45cm)

t

Part 6Consider your coloured-pencil pictures as heirlooms when you

choose to work on the correct surface, by Judith Heilbronn Crown

Coloured pencil basics

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

nHow to produce artwork

that will last

nExperiment with different

pencils and surfaces

nGood coloured-pencil practices