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Meet this month’s editor’s choice winner from our PaintersOnline gallery
Originally from Manchester, John Stansfield now lives on the North Yorkshire coast with his wife, Maggie. ‘I’ve always loved painting and drawing but I’ve never really taken it seriously until I started using coloured pencils in 2018. They’re fantastic for very fine details and can be layered to achieve some stunningly realistic effects. Since then, my work has been accepted into several international exhibitions and I’m delighted to have won several awards.
‘I draw portraits of people and pets, but will draw anything that looks good, which is how this drawing (below) came about. I was looking to photograph birds for my next project when I spotted this pole line capacitor. It just looked so striking against the clear blue sky.
‘I began the drawing by sticking some masking fluid to a print of the image then cut out the pole and the main parts. I removed this and stuck it to my paper. I drew in the power lines with a fine liner pen and did the same for the cables adding highlights with a white pencil. Using a small sponge, I rubbed in the pastel background. After removing the masking film, I drew in the rest of the details and went over the cable lines again with the fine liner.
‘I am a member of the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) and we’re having our 20th anniversary gala exhibition at the Bargehouse Gallery, London, from October 14 to 20. It will be the biggest exhibition we have ever had, and we are looking forward to making it a hugely successful event. There will be workshops, demonstrations, an exhibition of artists’ trading cards from every member of the society, plus around 400 artworks showing the best of the best in the coloured pencil world.’
John will be exhibiting work at the UKCPS 18th World of Coloured Pencil exhibition at The Derwent Pencil Museum, Keswick, from May 17 to June 26. He hopes to be able to start running coloured pencil demonstrations and workshops when it is safe to do so, and in the meantime has put some of his tutorials on YouTube and on his website. To see more of his work, go to www.johnstansfield.co.uk
See him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/johnstansfield and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/johnstansfieldart
John Stansfield Pole Line Capacitor, coloured pencils and pastel, 111/2381/4in (29321cm)