What’s in store this week? Another experiment with Photoshop brushes, another handmade pink animal as a subject, and the fascinating story of a piece of fabric.

Since I found last week’s exercise with oil painting Photoshop brushes both enjoyable and useful, I decided to do it again this week, with pencil brushes this time. The pink kangaroo I chose to draw is a soft toy I sewed when I was a tester for Abby Glassenberg’s book, it’s been living on a shelf in my studio ever since. Oh, that fabric I used for the belly and the ears, I told that story before, but I can’t resist… Once upon a time, it was used as curtains in a convent, but even nuns occasionally enjoy a change of decoration. One day, it was scavenged and given a second chance by a woman specialized in vintage textile: I bought it from her at a flea market when I was still living in Paris, and she told me about the convent story. The fabric then crossed the ocean in a container with our other belongings, and a small part of it is now a huggable kangaroo in San Francisco. As of today, it’s also immortalized in a drawing. “Things have their secrets, things have their legend, and things whisper, if we know how to hear”, sings Barbara in Drouot. Indeed.

Here’s the final (for now) drawing, even though I’m still pondering whether I really like that lined paper and if the image works better with or without the smiling mouth.

I’m not even sure whether Kyle Webster, who created the brushes I tested, intended his 4H pencil to be used as colored pencils, but that’s the beauty of those tools, isn’t it. It was interesting to see how much the tool influenced the appearance of the colors, so I had to rely even more than usual on layering to get rich and vibrant hues. Here are some close-ups of the finished image and an animated overview of the whole process. In case you’re wondering: yes, this hatching technique was extremely time-consuming, but worth it, I think. I actually really enjoy this drawing!

And last but not least: my model.