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Bob Ebdon, Coloured Pencil Artist
I have no formal art training, and only discovered
that I could draw around 8 years ago, after
a nervous breakdown following 22 years
of teaching. For a long time after this
I drew in graphite only, with no colour.
After trying to paint and failing miserably – I
like colour that stays where I put it! – I
bought a set of Derwent Artists pencils
and fell in love. At last a medium that
offered me the control, convenience and
colour that I wanted.
I
tried to supplement my teacher’s
pension with some sales of art, and soon
was able to find commissions, especially
dog portraits. I took a stall around Agility
Dog Shows and in three years I had done over
90 Border Collie portraits! I soon found
though that I wanted to do other things,
and have been searching for a long time for
what that might be. I have tried wildlife,
flowers, landscapes – everything! The
subjects that most appeal to me are not necessarily
the ones that sell – the eternal dilemma
of the artist.
"UK
artists can see more of Bob's work in
his first solo exhibition,
which is at
the home of the Cumberland Pencil Company
(makers of Derwent pencils) in Keswick, Cumbria,
during the whole of the month of May 2004"
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I
joined the CPSA in 1999, as there was nothing
for cp artists in the UK, where I
live. Then around 2001 I thought it was about
time there was something, so along with a
lot of other people I founded the UK Coloured
Pencil Society. For the next two and a half
years I devoted most of my time to the Society,
and my health began to suffer again. Besides
this I was not spending enough time on my
own art, either producing it or marketing
it, so I quit the Society, leaving it in
the very capable hands of the Executive,
and have been able to produce much more of
what I want. I have been lucky enough to
be asked to do some book illustrations for
three books, and thanks to my role in the
Society, I have written several articles
for magazines. I have also returned to teaching,
though 15 adults who want to be there, not
30 kids who don’t! I teach coloured
pencil courses at three adult education colleges
in the UK, and enjoy this enormously. But
I am still searching for what kind of art
I should be doing, and in what kind of style.
The only thing I am certain of is that it
will be in coloured pencils! |
I
have tried landscapes, as these are the
most popular subjects
in the UK. The steps are to an old Welsh
Farmhouse, near Dolgellau. This was done
on Fabriano Classico HP 300gsm paper, with
a mixture of Karisma (Prismacolour), Derwent
and Faber Castell pencils. It represents
a quite loose, underworked style, no burnishing,
and has sold well as a card. I enjoyed
the challenge of showing the different
textures here, but ultimately felt that
it was too representational for me – too
much a record of what I saw, with little
feeling.
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I
have done several portraits, this being
my favourite at the moment. Thanks
to Ann Kullberg, who came over to the UK
to give a wonderful workshop, I have learned
a lot about these, and am still learning.
This portrait was also on Fabriano, with
mostly Karisma (Prismacolour) pencils. I
enjoy portraits enormously, but still want
to try to get away from representing likeness
and move more into showing feelings and personalities.
In this one I hope I captured the love between
Manjeet’s mother and (deceased) father. |
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But
the kind of art that I have most enjoyed
up to now is shown in the two pictures above.
I like colour, I like simple and detailed
images, and I like images with a twist, a
message, or, as in the case of these, a simple
pun. The top one is called Apple Turnover,
and the oranges picture is called Orange
Blossom. I have done a lot worse, believe
me! I have a fruit alphabet, for instance,
in which “S” stands for six sequential
slices of slightly small starfruit! I have
done a lot of work like this, highly burnished
in many cases, mostly with Karisma on Fabriano,
with horrible puns as the basis for a lot
of them. But it comes back to what sells – most
of these pictures are still on my walls,
and the money I earn from commissions must
come first. |
Where
next? My latest picture, finished in March,
is to the right. I managed to get hold
of some Rising Stonehenge (thanks Jenny!),
so this is on that fabulous paper. It is
an attempt to combine an image that I hope
will appeal with a message that satisfies
the need in me to make more than a pretty
picture, and I hope it shows a stage of
the journey to becoming an artist that
started only 8 years ago. I have a long
way to go, but the journey is such fun!
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