Until the 2nd November 2019, the UK Colour Pencil Society is showing its 16th World of Coloured Pencil exhibition at the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick, Cumbria.
The UKCPS has been exhibiting in the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick since the very early days of the society and Museum Manager, Tracy Strong, is among the judges for this year’s awards, which are sponsored by pencil manufacturer Derwent.
This is a UKCPS members exhibition with the following awards:
Derwent – Best in Show and People’s Award.
UKCPS – ‘Reserve Best in Show’ plus award for a ‘Best Local Group Member’.
Leisure Painter – ‘Best Newcomer to Coloured Pencil’.
People’s Prize based on votes from exhibition visitors.
Award winners in show include:
Jess Pritchard – Kingdom Sunrise – Best in Show
Lisa Ann Watkins – Aura – Reserve Best in Show
John Stansfield – Giraffe – Best Newcomer
Marion Ramsden – Cira – Best Local Group Member
Pat Heffer UKCPS Gold – Life Cycle of a Flower – The Coloured Pencil Shop Award
Highly Commended:
Linzi Lee – Thud
Cherry Ferris – The Golden King
Sarah Bowsher – Busy Buzzy Bee
Dates: 7th September – 2nd November
Address: Derwent Pencil Museum, Southey Works, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5NG
Opening Times: Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 5.00pm
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The UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon, spurred by a letter in A&I magazine from Pat Heffer (who became a founder member, enthusiastic supporter and finally President). A few people sharing their interest of coloured pencil art, who had never met except via the internet, started the Society and it was launched at Patchings Art Centre in Nottinghamshire. The Society has grown over the years: the second issue of the quarterly magazine (September 2001) reported they had just reached the 100 member mark, and now there are over 600 members.
Three main aims are at the heart of the Society: to promote coloured pencils as a fine art medium, to support UK-based artists who use coloured pencils, and to educate artists and the public in general about coloured pencils. It has enabled professional coloured pencil artists to promote their artistry within this specialisation and share their expertise with amateur members.
All the committee members of the UKCPS are volunteers. The Society co-ordinates local groups around the country, trying to link up members in the same area to meet regularly to encourage use of this medium.
Pencils
Coloured pencil (CP) is often recognised as an essential tool for the intricacies of botanical, wildlife and animal works, but is now equally widely applied to portraiture, still life and landscapes as well as experimental modern pieces. All subject matter is covered by artists showing at the annual exhibition.
In 2017 UKCPS was granted Charitable Status by the Charities Commission.
More information about the UKCPS here: https://ukcps.org.uk/
Among the artists contributing to the exhibition is Sema Martin. She says her work Lazy Days “depicts the perfect summer day. In drawing the beautiful ginger tabby cat sleeping on a moss-covered stone wall I wanted to create that sense of warmth and security and take one back to nature, the countryside and spending a lovely summer’s day outside, enjoying the sun”.
“My drawing ‘Lazy Days’ was selected for the 2019 World of Colour Pencil Exhibition run by the UK Colour Pencil Society at the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick” added Sema, who made the transition from being a NASA engineer to a full-time artist in 2016. “I travelled up for the private viewing where I had the opportunity to meet many other colour pencil artists in the society and see some amazing work. The Derwent brand means a lot to me because it was the first set of colour pencils I bought for myself to get back into art after so much engineering. I learnt a lot of techniques and adapted to the texture and colour palette of their Derwent Drawing Pencils range and drew my very first commissions with them. It was very exciting to see the Museum and even more exciting to see my own artwork hanging on their wall”.
Based in Wales, Sema now accepts international commissions for pet portraits, and her website features details for commissioning and for ordering limited edition giclee prints of her work.
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