I think using wax pastels and colored pencil on Duralar is my favorite combination of surface and media.
This Grackle spent some time perusing the edge of this pond searching for muddy bits and pieces, probably for a nest. Each time it moved forward in its search, a frog or other little critter would plop into the water, keeping ahead of him, just in case.
Probably best described as multimedia, I started with an Artist Bord by Ampersand and covered it with a coat of Golden Silverpoint Drawing Ground. My first thought was to use metalpoint, but after sketching in the birds on both, I switched to colored pencil. I used some blue ink for the backgrounds, and on the larger piece, I used an aluminum scrubber pad to place some blurry tree branches and a border.
Until tilted to the light, this looks like a hazy, gray smudge with no definition. The process was fast and fun. I used my aluminum “Brillo pad” for the background after I scored numerous, thin branches and grasses into the surface with the end of a paintbrush. The deer was sketched in gold.
This owl settled into a tree and I took four quick, blurry pictures just to prove it happened. Metalpoint seemed to be a good medium for a mysterious, moody drawing.
