Coloured Pencil Painting - Work in Progress

My art teacher has returned from a working break in the U.K. and so it was back to the 'drawing' board. As always, I had such good intentions of getting so much done in her absence........ yes, you know the story! My eldest son and his fiance have moved into a lovely old style flat - big spacious rooms etc. and they were looking for some suitable pictures to put into their kitchen. So, I am using this opportunity to hone my skills and pass on the results to them. This composition of red onions and white garlic with a knife on the table, I started two weeks ago. I was really not enjoying it, but Linda forced me to get passed the block, so I chipped away at it a little at a time. The above picture is what I took back to class this morning and this is what I bought home.....

..... I am really into it now. Loving the journey. I have learnt a couple of very valuable lessons. One is, art is no different to life, you just have to jump the hurdles, or at my age, walk around them.... and two, always use the very best art materials. I used Canson 180gm water paper, which is a really good paper, but should have hauled the Bristol board out of my revered stash. With this medium you build up layers of pencil colour, so you work your paper to death, and Canson - this particular one, is not suitable! It was starting to break down, so, for now, I need to leave the dark shading on the onions alone. Perhaps, I will try to tweak it a little more later on, but for now, I will be working on the garlic and then the knives.