Red Apples cont'd

Here's my progress on this one. I'm getting there. I'll fuss with the apples some more and then render that pesky granite table top!

Veda asked what my materials were on this one and I'm going to paste my answer here as well.

I'm sorry, I forget there will be new readers, and I'm just using my usual
suspects as far as materials go. It is all colored pencil, BUT, I did the
background using Caran D'Ache Spectracolors (watercolor pencil) and Neocolor II
(watercolor crayon). The rest has an initial layer of Derwent Coloursofts and
then the rest of the layers are in Caran D'Ache Luminance pencils, both are
regular dry colored pencils. & of course it is all done on Ampersand
Pastelbord - which is what I do my still-lifes on.

In the last couple, I've used watercolor pencil/crayon for the black background, which is not something I usually do. There are pros and cons to this method. Pros of course are how quickly the process goes and the fact that the grain fills right leaving no specks. The cons are dealing with the edges. Its tough to blend the dry colored pencil of the subjects into that painted background. It can be done however, and when it is varnished there will not be much visual difference in the areas.

On another note, did you know you can use watercolor pencil right over dry colored pencils? Even if there is waxy or oily buildup, the spectracolors (the brand I use) can be put right on top and wet with a brush. I like doing this if the grain of the board is realy distracting.