Totally experimental colored pencil/watercolor pencil piece by Amy Lindenberger, Step 1

I taught a workshop this past weekend which I had entitled "And You Thought You Knew Colored Pencil!" (For information about my workshops, please visit http://www.amylindenberger.com/.) The premise of the workshop was that the very things which attract artists to colored pencil -- the ability to render precise details and have ultimate control -- can carry the disadvantage of a loss of spontaneity. So I demonstrated a variety of techniques for advanced students, most using watercolor pencils, which help to bring some of that spontaneity back, but still meet the Colored Pencil Society of America's guidelines of "100% colored pencil" for their annual international exhibitions. This piece started out purely as a demo of a technique for using Masa paper, wetting and "crinkling" the paper to produce an intricate pattern of lines. Then while the paper is still damp-to-wet, a deep blue watercolor pencil was brushed over the "hills", and the color seeps through to the other side of the paper, reminiscent of the lines of a batik. After the paper was thoroughly dry I brushed an olive green watercolor pencil onto the surface in certain areas -- we were discussing the use of this technique for foliage in landscapes. (This is really a watercolor technique, and I'm still new at it, so if any of you watercolorists have done this and have any tips to share I'd be ever so grateful!)

At the conclusion of the workshop I wondered what to do with this demo piece. A few days later I found a photo I had taken last Spring of the peonies that were blooming outside my studio (which I dearly love), and noticed that -- while the greens are too strong for my peony image -- the shape placement was very similar to the flower placement in my photo, and there were elements of blue and green present in the peonies and their foliage. So I began to speculate on what would happen if I drew onto this surface, and used my dry colored pencils to subdue some the areas of color. I can't honestly say I know for certain this will be successful -- I'll see what happens and share my results with you as I go!