I’ve been working on some ‘manier noir’ drawings. The name means ‘in the dark manner’ and usually refers to the printmaking technique of mezzotint. I stretched the paper onto a wall originally, gave it 2 coats of gesso and when dry, I rubbed it all over with graphite block, then a rag dipped in turpentine to get a smooth slightly metallic finish. The drawing is done with wire wool and aluminium oxide paper, or fine sandpaper, removing the highlights and paler tones. It’s a type of reductive drawing. One of the photos in the slideshow below shows how big the paper is, but I’m planning on getting three smaller drawings from it.
scribblah 
Reblogged this on just between me and you ….
Thank you 🙂
I think Degas used a similar approach in some of his monotypes. I recall seeing many in an exhibition in Canberra a few years ago. Here is a link to one in the National Gallery of Australia, http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=144782, although I’m not clear if it is reductive. Some in the show were. I think I recall the wall text saying that he did many as a daily exercise – some things never change!
Thanks Leonie, I do lots of reductive monotypes myself, inspired by Degas and Monet. It’s a fabulous technique. Thank you for the link 😊
Reblogged this on JHladikVoss57's Blog and commented:
Very interesting technique-with a short vid!
Thanks for this! I never learned this technique. Very interesting!
Thanks Judith. It gives a very interesting finish. You can use compressed charcoal instead of graphite 🙂
thank you, very interesting technique, will try that
It’s very dramatic 🙂