I had some fun using charcoal on a wood panel. I primed it first and then sprayed Spectrafix Final Fixative on it at the end. The reference photo is one I used before for my first (and so far only) oil painting. The wood grain really plays a role in the charcoal version, and with my next one, I’ll take it into account when planning.
Every so often I rediscover a medium I was once fascinated with. This time, it’s charcoal. I splurged and bought Nitram charcoal to add to my collection of vine charcoal and compressed pencils. It’s nice–I think it’s a bit more solid than vine and not quite as hard as compressed. I also bought a wonderful book of prints, A Treasury of American Prints (1939), edited by Thomas Craven, with the idea of copying a wide range of styles using ink, graphite, or charcoal. Here’s a first one of an Edward Hopper print called East Side Interior.
9″x12″, charcoal and white chalk on Stonehenge Kraft Paper
I also completed a Khadi sketchbook with these three charcoal flower sketches. I started thinking about charcoal and the wonderful moodiness of it after I re-watched an inspiring interview/demo with artist Kathleen Speranza. She paints a lot of roses, using graphite sketches for structure and charcoal for more of the feeling. Both are in preparation for the painting, so her sketches aren’t complete and yet they’re stunning. My attempts are a bit clunky, but I think I”m settling into a new way of using charcoal where I don’t ask it to be a sharp, graphite pencil and I’m happy that it isn’t paint. I’ve been spraying all of these with Spectrafix to keep smudging at bay.
The migrating birds are back and busy at the feeders.
I finished a third winter landscape, and it’s interesting how they fit together as a set.
All three are 9”x12”. The paper varies, and they each have a unique look as a result. The top is on Stonehenge Legion drawing paper, the bottom left is on Strathmore Bristol vellum, and the bottom right is mineral paper. The most versatile is the mineral paper, but it’s potentially not archival, so my pick is Stonehenge. It’s a bright white with some tooth. If I had more hot press papers to try, I’d probably prefer those, so there are future purchases down the road, I think.
I’m taking a little break from the messiness of charcoal to try out some new graphite pencils. I love graphite once my eye adjusts from black to silver, and these new pencils, Faber Castell’s Matt Graphite, promise dark values without a shiny glare. So far, there’s not much glare, but the pencils themselves feel rather hard compared to a normal graphite pencil. Even the astounding 14B feels like an B or 2B when I use it. They’re definitely different.