My new fascination with colored pencils has been, well, fascinating. I purchased a set of 40 Caran D’Ache Luminance pencils, which I’ve since heard are among the most expensive due to their exceptional lightfast ratings.

The texture samples are all from Denise Howard’s book, 101 Textures for Colored Pencil.

Having only used Prismacolor, I don’t have much to compare them with but I can guarantee they are very nice. The color is strong and covers easily. I find, too, that I’m not going over and over areas, so I have a feeling theses pencils will last longer than other brands–perhaps they’re not quite as expensive as it seems. The main reason I chose Luminance pencils is the color choice. I was thrilled with the earth tones and grays.

I also bought a Strathmore 400 sketchbook, and I’ve been following some tutorials and playing around with blending, which seems to be at the heart of colored pencil work. Above I tried many different blending techniques, all of which I like for different reasons. I’ll stay away from oil, however, because it soaks through the paper and doesn’t dissipate. One of my favorites is using colored pencil over Inktense. I’ve used this in various ways, and I always like the effect. I never thought I’d enjoy mixed media, but never say never.

I came into this medium thinking it would be a great combination of painting and drawing, but I think it’s more accurate to say it’s like shaping and shading.