150 Prismacolor pencils! 72 Derwent pencils!

My dear husband, seeing my new interest, quietly went to Amazon and ordered me a set of Prismacolor pencils - their biggest set, at 150 pencils. That's the set pictured with the title of this blog.  Not that he had known what brand to get me. He just told Dr Google he wanted "the best" color pencils. 

I was floored when they arrived. They are excellent. Rich, vibrant color and beautifully blendable too.

The softness of the Prismacolor layers beautifully, and 
when I used my (Derwent) blender pencil, this was the 
ombre effect I got on this elephant from one of my 
three coloring books. So much depth.
Ditto the fish below. 

Both the fish and elephant pictures are from my Harmony 
of Colour book. See blog entry above this one for 
reviews of the three coloring books I have.  

This Prismacolor set was why I was able to give away my Faber Castells (see previous post) to my friend. I had bought those in the late 80s, when I was casting around for something to do outside my work in the government service, and did actually get down to drawing and coloring in my own art then - flowers, parrots...

Six months after I got the Prismacolor set, Christmas came around.  I got another box of pencils among my gifts, this time, Derwent, the box of 72, from my sister, who had done her research and shopped at Art Friend, one of our premier art supplies stores here. It is Derwent's largest box available in Singapore. She also got me a souped up pencil sharpener, also Derwent.

Among my Christmas presents was Johanna Basford's Enchanted Forest, her sophomore book after the world-record-breaking Secret Garden.  

 I am so spoiled.