Welcome to artist Gloria Callahan's Fine Art Colored Pencil site!
You might just say,
About Me
My Background
I am primarily self-trained artist in colored pencil, graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, oils and acrylics. Creating and exhibiting art full time for the last 10 years, Prior to that I worked 9 years as a contract colorist for Old World Prints in Richmond, creating hand watercolored reproductions. I have always tried to capture the beauty around me in my own art. Even though my style has realism as a basis, I strive to do more than replicate but use colored pencils to achieve a painterly effect. I have admired so many of the old masters my Italian mother loved. Their artistry of expertly rendering aspects of life and nature show us what can be achieved if you work hard enough at your craft. I use various tools borrowed from the experience I’ve gained from my other media to enhance what can be done with colored pencil.
My Mediums : Colored Pencil & Oil
Colored Pencil:
I work using artist grade colored pencils utilizing only the highest lightfast rated brands and colors. Layering the color onto archival quality papers and board. Using at times 20-25 layers of pencil to saturate each colored pencil painting, a rewarding but time consuming media.
When working on board I am able to seal my work with acrylic fixative and then 8 layers of archival UV varnish. Enabling me to frame without glass much like an oil or acrylic fine art painting.
Oil:
Oil painting is my loose and free expression medium. Painting "plein air' (in the open air) with my water miscible oil paints enables me to use non-toxic solvents to capture what I see a little faster than with my beloved colored pencil. Painting landscapes as well as still life in oil helps me to capture the light and color of the location which I then use in my studio for future colored pencil work.
My Inspiration
Pulling from the beauty in my own back yard, and my travels, my goal is to provide the oasis we all need in our hectic lives. I find the drama of the extreme lighting in late afternoon to be the most intriguing ingredient for my paintings. The luminescent color of the light through the blossom strikes me with the passion to capture it in my paintings. Travel inspires me to record our world’s beauty, as well as the human form and emotion which also are influences on my work.
