Recently I began experimenting with colored pencils on a clay-coated hardboard panel called "Pastelbord", and I really liked how I could quickly achieve rich, vibrant colors without any streakiness. The rough surface of Pastelbord accomodates several layers of colored pencil, and it's really almost like working with pastels where you can easily add highlights and details after laying down the base colors. However, I missed working on smoother surfaces because it requires more of a "drawing" technique, where details like highlights and shines must be incorporated as the color is applied. I also like the feel of working on smoother surfaces as opposed to Pastelbord, which really chews up the pencils and creates a great deal of dust. Overall, the advantages and disadvantages of each surface are such that I will continue to work on both, choosing the surface based on the look I want to achieve. I am currently working on a 16"x12" portrait on smooth bristol board, which is why I haven't posted any new works in a few days! The process is enjoyable to me, but it is much, much slower. Because the surface is so smooth, every pencil stroke really matters, and it's easy for the colors to start looking streaky. In order to avoid streakiness while still achieving rich color, thin coats of pencil must be laid down with a very steady hand. I like to vary the direction of the strokes, and sometimes even use tiny circular strokes to make the color look even and smooth. Unlike coarse surfaces where you can sometimes use the surface to your advantage in creating rough textures such as rocks, smooth surfaces require that every texture be carefully hand rendered, and this can also be much more time consuming. Still, I think the process is worth the time, resulting in very complex colors and highly-resolved details that still look very soft. Check out the dark shadow on the lower left-hand corner of the progress photo above: it looks blackish, but upon close inspection of the actual portrait, you can see how colors including red, blue, orange, green, and brown are combined to achieve the resulting dark color. The lighter areas of the sweater are not yet done, but it's already starting to take on the texture of a sweater as a result of several layers applied with opposing pencil strokes. I will probably start working on (and complete!) a portrait commission on Pastelbord before finishing this portrait, but I will try and post photos as I progress.