For most of my life I haven’t been keen on charcoal, I thought it was a bit clumsy. Husb calls it “the sausage fingered stick of doom”. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it isn’t much good if you want to do fine detail on small paper. My Khadi sketchbook isn’t big so I’m limited in what I can put into a drawing, which is challenging but in a good way. Here’s a sketch I did with Winsor & Newton willow charcoal after Husb and I did some work on the allotment earlier this evening. There’s a group of copper beech trees in a row alongside the path leading up to Oystermouth Castle and I made them the focus of the drawing. It was a chance to play around with strong diagonal scribbles.
I have returned to charcoal for the same reason, to simplify my drawings.
I’ve failed. I like your sketch though.
Thanks 🙂 The Khadi paper helps because it’s so rough I’m not tempted to try and put detail in.
Yes but your trick is seeing your subject so you know how to simplify, not just how to control of the stick.
In this house, charcoal will, henceforth, be known as the sausage fingered stick of doom 😆 nice drawing though Rosie , I’m useless at charcoal
hehehe – I’ve always avoided willow charcoal because I found it so hard to handle so I forced myself to have a go during lockdown and I’m really pleased with what I’m getting. It helps that I, by accident, started using the heavy textured Khadi paper 😀