For anyone who uses the Caran d'Ache Luminance pencils, the company has released 24 new colours! You can buy individual pencils or purchase 20 of the colours in a box set called the 'Portrait assortment' 

These pencils have been available to 'pre-order' for a while, but online stores, are now receiving stock and getting them sent out to everyone. My set appeared on Saturday morning (18.07.20) and I have to admit to being very excited upon opening the box.

For me, the Luminance pencils are THE best pencils I have used and I really appreciate that Caran d'Ache have extended the colour palette from 76 to 100. I suspect this was a reaction to Derwent releasing their first, fully lightfast pencil range last summer, which had 100 colours. For anyone interested, I have both ranges. The Luminance pencils are my regular 'go to' pencils as they are a little firmer than the Derwent Lightfast, and I am able to create finer details with them, but both ranges offer different colour palettes and having a larger choice is always a bonus.

The two darker tones, Indanthrone Blue and Dark Indigo will make a more natural replacement for the black pencil, but as the majority of my own work includes pets and portraits, having additional browns and pinks added to the palette is excellent. My current favourite colours are Burnt Ochre 10% and Burnt Sienna 10%, which I use on almost every portrait, so the introduction of the Herculanum Red, Violet Pink and Dark Flesh 40% are most welcome!

Above are the four new colours not included in the Portrait set. Personally, I think that Caran Dache should have created the Portrait set and include all 24 colours as they are just as important as all the other colours. I also wish they had included an extra grey for the 'eye colour selection', but as I use the greys more than most other colours, I could never have enough choice!

Have you got yours yet? Do let me know what your favourite, or most used colours are, and which new colours you are most excited about!

You can view our Luminance article by clicking the link below.

I am currently in the process of organising this years art workshops and will be included in the winter newsletter which will be Emailed out to subscribers hopefully by the end of this month. All details will be posted on the step by step art CHESTERFIELD WORKSHOP page once available and added to social media pages for this site & my KMB social media pages too,  ensuring a larger audience reach.

Every year I choose 3 or 4 subjects for the Coloured pencil & Graphite pencil workshops which include varying techniques and surfaces to previous years, ensuring each workshop is different to another. Coloured pencil workshops using textured paper are somewhat easier for a complete beginner than the workshops working on smooth paper, however every workshop available  can be attended by any artist regardless of their calibre, even if they have NEVER drawn anything since their time at school!

​To find out more about our workshops, click any one of the following links to visit the page of interest:

Thinking of buying the Caran Dache Luminance pencils and wonder if they are going to be suitable for you? Take a look at my latest article on these pencils to find out more about them before you decide to splash out.