bitter

Cotton Pickin Blues – Jacki Kellum Colored Pencil Drawing

It is nearly August and it is as hot as heck outside in Mississippi. But through the Heat Fumes, I can almost see Autumn emerging on the horizon. I associate Autumn with my memories of having picked cotton as a child.

In November, I’ll offer an online memoir writing workshop, and I’ll elaborate on this matter, but Cotton fields surrounded my neighborhood.

November is National Memoir Writing Month – Harvest Your Past Day 1 – Describe November

I grew up a bit north of Memphis, which is a bit north of where I live now in Mississippi, but trust me: Cotton Pickin Time was as hot in Southeast Missouri as it is in North Mississippi. My memories of picking cotton are bittersweet, and I talk about that another post. I wrote about my memories in a picture book, which begins as follows:

“There’s a brief, enchanted moment,
As the moonlight tuhem play.

And somewhere near that river,
While kids are very small,

A mama says: “It’s cotton time,
It’s cotton picking fall.”

But this post is not about my picture book, It is more about my drawing which inspired that book.

I rarely draw in colored pencil. But I do teach my students to begin their study of color and drawing in colored pencils. While painting in watercolor is fast and furious–prone to dissolving in a muddy mess–drawing in colored pencils slows that process down and allows the student time to think along the way.

In this post, I’ll discuss the colored pencils I use to create both the blues and the browns. I’ll also discuss the technique I use to create the background.

The white of the cotton is the white of the paper, and the shadows are created with pale blues

Why I Shade with Blue and Not Black – Jacki Kellum Painting & Color Theory