About this website – the Australian Coloured Pencils Network
The ACPN is a website founded to support Australian coloured pencil artists and raise the profile of coloured pencil art in Australia.Â
This website has been created to be used as a resource for artists, as well as a online community for artists to be able to find and connect with one another and somewhere that we can collectively showcase our artwork to the wider Australian art community and the world.Â
Hello my name is Belinda Lindhardt, and I have created this website for all of the above reasons, mostly originating from my own journey as a coloured pencil artist and wanting to connect with other artists to find out more information about creating art with coloured pencils, supplys we have available here in Australia and wanting to be able to talk to and encourage other coloured pencil artists (of all levels).
First of all let me answer a question I am always asked – Is there an Australian Coloured Pencil Society?
Short answer is No. We are however your closest thing.
The ACPN is a group of people united by a common interest – coloured pencils in Australia.
As a group, we have discussed becoming a society multiple times.
The conclusion has been the logistics of running a formal society are a little trickier than that of a group. At present time geography and time commitment needed to run a society is not currently possible. I like to think that what we have formed is the next best thing.
The AusCP Network is a community group for those interested in coloured pencil art.
Australian coloured pencil artists are in a unique position to our worldwide counterparts. When I first started in cp art I found it difficult to find other coloured pencil artists and supply’s locally.
I also found out that supply’s used by overseas cp artists were not always available “down under” and if they available they often under different names. I also found that connecting with other cp artists overseas was sometimes difficult due to differences in timezones. As well as all of that was never any local exhibitions, artists or anything to help me to fulfill my passion.
After a few years of working in my art, trialing supports, techniques etc. I realised I had lots of information and I wanted to share with other cp artists and I wanted to connect and help just as I had been supported by some wonderful artists overseas.
So, I started a blog to communicate my thoughts and to see if there were any other artists I could communicate with in Australia. I quickly found out that there were other artists and all we just needed a place to communicate with each other, our site has evolved into various versions since the time we started in 2008, and today we are growing everyday and have over 100 members, most of these from Australia.
In 2011, we welcomed our sponsors S&S Wholesale – Creativity Unlimited who have been a wonderful in helping us support our exisiting members and with their fantastic support means we can continue to grow the ACPN in the future.