Day 2 in Boise, Idaho and I’m nearly over the jet lag and settling in to work with a group of Boise artists to develop work for a group exhibition. First day and we’re working on drawings in the manicure noire style, which means getting proper grubby.
Once the paper had Ben smeared with compressed charcoal, we got stuck in with wire wool and aluminum
oxide paper to remove the highlights and reveal the tones of our still life subjects.
Here’s the finished charcoal drawings that we did in the morning. In the afternoon, we went through a similar process but with paper coated in graphite.
This residency at Wingtip Press has been supported by Wales Arts International and Arts Council Wales.
Fantastic work! Hadn`t heard of charcoal being used like that before. Thanks for a very educational post!
These are awesome. What a great technique. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Reblogged this on notes to the milkman and commented:
Must have a go at this!
Yes do, it gives great results
I was telling Rachel, my college art teacher, about ‘menier noir’ but when we put the term into Google (TM) (other search engines are available) we only found links to your blog. Have you invented the term?
I wonder if penguins work on WordPress. <(")
Gorgeous drawings. This is a new technique to me – I guess that you have to be fairly gentle to avoid damaging the paper? Will definitely have to try this!
No, you can be quite harsh with it because the paper is coated with two layers of acrylic gesso first. Also, we used thick paper, 300gms
Love it when you get down and get dirty 🙂 Enjoy your stay in the States
Hansi
I am having a great time 🙂
Sorry, that should be maniere noire, not manicure! I hate predictive text!
That’s amazing, the way they are glowing on the paper 🙂
It’ a lovely technique
Great sketches – you have a good group there!
They’re a talented group of artists. I’m really enjoying working with them.
Lovely sketches. Brings back memories of my art college days. Look forward to seeing more projects.
It’ a lovely technique to work with