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Finding myself with time on my hands during the first lockdown of 2020, I decided to experiment and draw a series of large-scale petals to highlight the importance of the natural world within our lives. Never before had I drawn such large-scale pieces in pencil and it’s amazing what you can do with a little determination. I used a mixture of Derwent Lightfast and Caran d’Ache Luminance pencils as there is a beautiful range of colours and these creamy pencils blend together perfectly. I began every petal with a light base colour, which gradually became darker and more vivid as I worked up the layers. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the overall finish as the petals didn’t quite have the smooth sheen I was searching for and the faint texture of the paper was still slightly showing through. My solution was to cover each piece with the opaque pigment from the Derwent Lightfast white pencil – the end result was a smooth, paintlike finish over each petal. There is much more scope to this art form and I can’t wait to see where it takes me next. The pieces I mentioned above can be viewed on my website: pritchart.co.uk/confetti

Jess Pritchard, by email