Alright, enough with the eternal paint questions that haunt my minimalistic dreams…
Onto the REAL stuff…rather, my favorite media when creating 2D art; colored pencils! And my all time favorite brand: Prismacolors!
My experience with Prismacolors started a long long time ago when I used to steal my sister’s art supplies to color in my coloring books. I loved using crayons but when I was really serious, I’d use her Prismacolors. I also used Prismacolors to draw my first costume renderings. As I went through school, I’d always be drawn to the brand but I wasn’t always able to use them the way I wanted. The reason? It was always so dang expensive!
I’d purchase small sets but last year, I decided to take my overtime pay from work when we were finished with Halloween and buy the entire 150 count Prismacolor Premier. (I purchased mine from Dick Blick…the set is actually affordable from this particular website. Here’s the page: http://www.dickblick.com/items/20508-0150/ ) It was a whopping $95, but it was worth every penny. I feel like the box should be set upon a golden pillow with a spot light shining upon it…
OK. Maybe not. But I hold this brand to a very high standard. This brand has a wide variety of markers, pastels, and colored pencils, but my experience comes from the Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils. Compared to the other colored pencils I’ve used in the past, this particular brand has the smoothest and vibrant hue I have seen in a colored pencil. The only problem I have come across when using these pencils is how soft the lead is and what happens when one drops a pencil…you get chunks of lead that decides to break on you right when you are coloring that tiny little detail…
Another thing about this particular brand is how smooth the finished effect is. You can purchase colorless blender pencils to help smooth the pigment onto the surface of your paper, making the pencil strokes disappear.
What is the relationship between Prismacolor and minimalism in my world? Well…like the acrylic paint, it’s a complicated one. I purchased this set last year and finally used them last week. I was afraid to use this set because of how expensive it was. I grew up not having these particular pencils because of the price. Now that I finally was able to afford them, I didn’t touch them because…well…I don’t know why. To me, minimalism is to use what you own. To have these particular pencils up on a shelf collecting dust was to go against this idea I was trying to learn so that I can live by and make my life more meaningful. So, just like I did with all my previous painting media, I created a swatch card. 
Aint it beautiful?
With every color, I got more and more excited. I had to get over my fear of using my colored pencils. But why did I have this fear? Because I felt guilty that I wasn’t using these very expensive colored pencils on something magical and perfect. And as I type that it sounds so silly. I’m not perfect. I know this. But why am I putting my art, a product of me, to this such high pedestal? There are dozens of more sticks of a particular color. In fact, Prismacolor sells these colors in individual sticks (Black. Enough said.)
So, after my swatch card was finished, I decided to test them out in a coloring book. I purchased Selina’s Fenech’s ‘Goddess and Mythology Coloring Book’. (You can purchase this coloring book here: https://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Mythology-Coloring-Fantasy-Selina/dp/0994585225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503970483&sr=8-1&keywords=goddess+and+mythology+coloring+book). And started going to town. I flipped the book to a particular page and started coloring.
Gaia. It’s a little less grainy in person, but the colors are just as bright and exciting. And I can’t wait to color more.
Another exploration of minimalism when it comes to this product. I took apart the previous packaging for the paint to be broken into a smaller container so that I have a tangible, movable box. I decided, because of how well designed this particular set is for function, to keep it in the same packaging. In future blogs, I will explore my other brands of coloring media but I went ahead to break down the packaging so that I can have all my colors in one place.
Disclaimer: I have not received any money from Amazon, Dick Blick, or Selina Fenech for mentioning their business name for the use of their products. I just can’t say enough how awesome these products are.
From Mess to Dress 