A Day With Karen Lockhart!

Yesterday I attended 2 different classes with stamp artist Karen Lockhart to learn the art of using PrismaColor Pencils. I've owned a very large box of Prismas for many, many years now, and was afraid to sharpen them for fear of "ruining" them. My dear friend, Gloria, gave me a smaller box of Prismas one year for my birthday (already sharpened!) and, try as I might, I could never get them to come out as beautiful as many I've seen- including Gloria's! Well, the opportunity came up to take Prisma coloring classes with Karen Lockhart sponsored by The Queen's Ink stamp store in Savage Mill, and I jumped at the opportunity! I learned SO much from Karen and was amazed that it REALLY isn't that hard! :)

The first class was just a Beginner/Refresher course. She gave us several images to color and walked us through each step. Here is my first-ever image colored using Prisma Pencils using the proper technique:

I was THRILLED with my first attempt!!! Karen taught us proper use of the pencils and shading techniques. Isn't that a fabulous pumpkin image? Of course, I HAD to get this one before I left!
Our second image was a wreath. I don't feel I did quite as well with this image, but I think with some more "tweaking" it might be salvagable!

Our last image in the beginner class was this wonderful basket:

Again, I was very happy with this one and of course, I had to have this stamp, too!!!

The second class that I took was using PrismaColor Pencils with a Stylus. Boy, what fun!!! The first image is my favorite of all that we did in the class, however the colors didn't scan quite as vibrant as they are in person!!


We used a stylus to add all of the little details- the words "flower", the dots, the tiles behind the flower, the lines on the flowerpot and the lines in the leaves- before we colored the image giving it lots of detail. I absolutely LOVE this one! Karen even made me promise to frame this one!

My next image was this image of 3 pears. I'm not quite as happy with this attempt, although, again, it could probably be tweaked a little more.

Next I colored this apple image. I didn't add any stylus details to this one, but was extremely happy with the way the shading came out!

I am SO happy that I signed up for these classes. Karen is an excellent teacher and I've learned so much. I've taken Copic classes, brayer classes, and now pencil classes, and I think I learned so much more from Karen's classes than I did from the others...and will use my new skills on a more regular basis. If you ever get the chance to take Karen's class I strongly suggest you do!!!

Thanks to Gloria for going with me and helping me along the way. Keep a look out here on my blog for the cards that I'll be making using these images