Colored Pencil/Watercolor Pencil experimental piece, Step 3, by Amy Lindenberger

This is actually going a little better than I had anticipated, and I "relearned" something I've used in other situations. Since the paper won't take much layering at this point, I had assumed that I wouldn't be able to get the pinks of some of the peonies and their buds, to cover the less desirable areas of green. But I remembered that sometimes in similar situations, I've been able to pick up a color that is actually darker in value and much more intense than the desired final color, and apply it with a very light touch, to achieve the value and intensity I'm actually aiming for. It appears to be working, and now -- though I don't think the pink peony in the upper right corner will end up looking exactly like I had originally envisioned -- I think I can proceed with my original intention of using only colored pencil on this piece, rather than having to add another, more opaque medium.



One of the things I'm enjoying about this piece is that it is forcing me to adapt to what's already there, accepting and even embracing changes to my original idea as they become necessary. Since it's always tempting to go with ideas and applications that feel "safer", I think it's a good thing to sometimes put ourselves into situations where we can't automatically take that route.