A Ghost In Charcoal.

Just came back from another Xmas curry. What is it about Xmas and curry houses? I’m going to be barrel-shaped at the end of the holidays at this rate 🙂

I’ve been clearing out my studio because I’m moving to a new, bigger studio over the road and I’m finding loads of work I’d forgotten about lurking at the bottom of my plans chest. This one is a large, A0, charcoal reduction drawing. I started by covering the paper with a layer of compressed charcoal [I had the paper on top of a slightly textured board]. Working directly from life, I’drew’ the highlights by removing the charcoal with a putty rubber [Blu Tack works just as well] The end result is ghostly and ethereal. It helps me technically to focus on the high- and low-lights which is quite a good exercise to do.