Best foot forward

Oh, how I wish I could say this was mine, but alas, it's only drawn from a photo I took! There is a Christian Louboutin shop in town and I never really took much notice until a couple of weeks ago. It's right across the road from a supermarket I go to and I went over to peer in the window and a couple of them just knocked me out - they are like little works of art!

I had a feeling I should have attempted this in watercolour and now I'm finished I might never pick up a coloured pencil again! It was so frustrating. It's mostly one colour, Polychromos Burnt Carmine with a light layer of Vermilion at one stage - there were a lot of layers! Maybe it was just the way that Burnt Carmine handles but it was like drawing with a wax candle that handled like a piece of chalk. It didn't seem to layer very well and it smudged like mad. To make matters worse, I didn't get the drawing of the studs down properly before I started and worked around them thinking I would tighten them up as I progressed. But then I added a Lyra Rembrandt Black at the stage where it usually makes the details 'pop' but instead they looked wonky and I found that black is impossible to erase, even with my battery powered eraser! I also lost a lot of my white highlights I'd been careful to preserve! I have to say, this shoe was not nearly as much fun to draw as it is to look at!

Polychromos and Lyra colour pencils on Winsor & Newton cartridge paper.