Drawing Darkly

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I spent some time in my studio today, starting a ‘manier noir’ style drawing. It’s a type of reductive drawing, working from black to white, rubbing away areas of charcoal to reveal the highlights. It’s the very first of a substantial body of drawings and original prints I have planned.

I prepared Fabriano Accademica paper with gesso and when it dried, I rubbed it evenly all over with compressed charcoal, using my hand to get a smooth black surface. I ‘draw’ into the charcoal with steel wool and very fine sandpaper. This technique results in a subtle but dramatic chiaroscuro.

Manier noir is an alternative name for the printmaking technique mezzotint, where an engraved metal plate has the highlights smoothed away with a steel burnisher.

Some wood I found, a print I made, and some images from Ye Olde Testament

I had to share this wonderful blogpost from Cardiff printmaker, John Abell, showing his latest linocuts

 

Some wood I found, a print I made, and some images from Ye Olde Testament.

Way Too Cute!

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I took my teenage niece with me to do a spot of puppy-sitting yesterday and I also took a drawing board, some beautiful vintage paper – Saunders from the Wooky Hole paper mill in Somerset – and charcoal, compressed and willow. I intended to do some portrait drawing of my niece, but I reckoned without the puppies! Way, way too cute and irresistible to a teenager apparently.

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I don’t know what she heard when I said,  “Keep still so I can draw you”. I think she heard, “Just roll around on the floor with the puppies then and don’t worry about keeping still so I can draw you!!!!!!!” So I did my best, but the little critters were a major distraction and I had to catch impressions of her as she cuddled the little tinkers. Ah well.

Crowd Control

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Standing in a queue is a good opportunity to do some crowd sketching. I like to draw individuals because, to be honest, it’s easier. But I shouldn’t stay in my comfort zone so I did these two crowd sketches when I was standing in a queue yesterday. Drawing in a crowd forces you to bring proportion and perspective into the composition. I drew with a graphic stick into my A5 Tate Gallery sketchbook.

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Spotted!

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Husb and I were up in Cardiff today in a queue for 3 hours. How very British. I used the time to draw. I started out using a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size M, into my A5 Tate Gallery sketchbook, but I didn’t like the results I was getting, too rigid, so I switched to a stick of graphite and got into my stride.

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He eventually spotted me!

Dark Expressions

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There have been some very high tides for the last couple of days so Husb and I went down to the beach earlier this evening for a look. I took my little hand made Khadi paper sketchbook that I’d prepared with an Indian ink wash, rubbed on with a small natural sponge. I sat in the dark and captured an impression of the darkness and the rough sea with compressed charcoal that I used side on. When I got home I splashed some white ink onto it with a very stiff hog hair brush.

Drawing in the dark isn’t easy, I don’t think there’s any point in trying to do detailed drawings, it’s an ideal situation to just cut loose and get free and expressionistic.

New Life Drawing (Female Nude )

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Here’s the other life drawing I did at last night’s session at Swansea Print Workshop. I’m lucky that we have so many opportunities for life drawing in this city, it’s not available everywhere. It’s important for me to be able to practice anatomical drawing, I think it’s an absolutely vital part of my artwork and skills set.

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This is a new model, an older woman. I like to draw elder models, so much of interest that comes with age. I used my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 with the free Markers app.

New Model, New Head.

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Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop with a new digital portrait study. This is a new model and I haven’t drawn her before. This drawing took about 20 minutes on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 using the free Markers app. Here’s a slideshow of the development of the drawing.

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Slobbing Out

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Here’s a sleepy cat from a sleepy me. Another one of those evenings when I am slobbing out on my comfy chair with Sparta Puss on the stool. So that’s my daily drawing done. I drew this on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 using the free Markers app.

I Scream Ice Cream

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Just a quick one at the end of the evening, a speedy sketch I did at the local ice cream parlour, Joe’s, a landmark for generations of Swansea Jacks, one of the widespread Italian cafés that grew across Wales in the early 20th century.

The ice cream is sublime, possibly the best vanilla in the world.

Drawn with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen size F into my A5 Tate Gallery sketchbook.