Mineral Spirits... who knew?

I love my Copic markers so much that sometimes I forget about the humble color pencils. There are such beautifully soft colors in my hummingbird. I wanted to get a good blend of blue and violet but sometimes the colors remain flat. That’s where a surprise from the garage comes in handy, mineral spirits. You can use those Crayola color pencils that have been stashed in the drawer. They work very well with mineral spirits. By taking a Tortillon blender (pointed little rolled pieces of paper) and dipping the tip into the mineral spirits, you can blend the blue and violet to get a vibrant blue violet on my birds.

In this pretty tulip card, the mineral spirits blend the colors into something special. There is a smooth mix of the soft shadows and the vibrant edges. So next time you sit down to color and just can’t get the life like quality that you want, pull out your color pencils and mineral spirits.