Tag Archives: conte crayon

Not Enough Time

I had a really good run of drawings at Thursday night’s life drawing session at Swansea Print Workshop. I decided to use different drawing materials and papers during the evening to keep it fresh, otherwise I tend to slip into my comfort zone of Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens and small sketchbooks. This is aContinue reading “Not Enough Time”

Some Days You Got It…..

…..and some days you don’t. And I just couldn’t get a handle on life drawing tonight at Swansea Print Workshop, so I switched from the full figure to a portrait, which worked better. This first figure was a fairly quick pose, about 10 minutes. There was a high spotlight on the model, throwing strong shadows,Continue reading “Some Days You Got It…..”

Sleepless In Swansea

I’m a lifelong insomniac, so this morning at around 5am I thought I might as well use my sleeplessness productively and grabbed a sketchbook from the side of the bed, a black Daler Rowney spiral bound A5, and using a white conte crayon, I scribbled Husb. He could sleep through anything.

Three Heads

I did these three studies a while ago. I wanted to try out different approaches with the same approach, so I did one with compressed charcoal (it’s quite choppy); two with ink and pen, one right handed and one left.  The two done with my right (normal) hand are a better likeness but there’s aContinue reading “Three Heads”

Hoodie

Here’s another study from Thursday night’s life drawing group. Our model was huddled in a cool hoodie dressing gown between poses and we all liked the pose she struck casually. Drawn in Faber Castell Pitt drawing pens, sizes S and B with black and white conte crayon, onto heavyweight handmade paper prepared with gesso andContinue reading “Hoodie”

A Stiff One

Back to normal and life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop this evening. I made a pear and chocolate sponge cake for our tea break. I often find that the drawings I do during the ‘long’ pose, usually about an hour, end up rather stiff, formal and academic. I suppose that isn’t a bad thing, butContinue reading “A Stiff One”

Recycled Head

At the print workshop we work with some beautiful papers and always use the best quality for the courses we run. It’s surprising how many people never collect their work afterwards. Even if they don’t like the image, there’s a lovely – and expensive – piece of paper that can be used again. I’m alwaysContinue reading “Recycled Head”

Love And The Labyrinth

It was a bright, sunny, though cold, afternoon and Husb and I strolled up the hill to Rosehill Quarry to walk the labyrinth. It’s based on an ancient Cretan design and is cut into the grass, the incised path filled with crushed cockle shells that are a by-product of the local seafood industry. It’s anContinue reading “Love And The Labyrinth”

Trad & Mod

I’ve spent the best part of the last year working on a large-ish scale, mostly A1 or A0 drawings and monotypes, but the past couple of months I’ve been enjoying these tiny, A6, ink drawings in the life drawing group I attend. I’m using a traditional dip pen and Indian ink onto handmade paper, boughtContinue reading “Trad & Mod”