The name of the model is lost in time but that’s OK, I’ve added titles of the songs I was listening to as I was editing these pictures – tracks from Sandy Denny, Christine and the Queens and Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions respectively. As I hinted at in the last post, this session I was experimenting with the then new Derwent XL blocks (graphite and charcoal blocks that are water soluble) and the Stabilo All pencil.
Like the Woody pencils, the black one I has spreads wonderfully like some Black Metal logo (think Bjork’s latest logo), like a bunch of sticks or fractal lightning strikes through the paper. I was adding a lot of water, I think I probably was experimenting with spraying on water first and drawing into that. There’s a wonderful abstract nature to these drawings….using drips and water to make the image shimmer or haze.
As you probably know from other posts here – I also love to destroy my images, and dousing them in water is one way to do that. And I really want to get more of these pencils!
Given my hatred of working with pencil that’s a strong statement!
Bad experiences when I was younger being forced to use pencil and nothing else for drawing when it really doesn’t suit my technique means I don’t like using pencil. Graphite sticks, Conte pencils, carbonne, yes…but I find traditional or colour pencils a struggle…which is odd. I grew up using Caran D’Ache but fell out of love of them as an adult with endless repeated criticisms about my ‘scratchy’ drawing style.
A lot of my last 14 months of work is trying to recover my love of drawing and creating that was beaten out of me by a frankly toxic art education (Don’t Do Degrees, Kids!). Hence why I tend to use ink/pens, charcoal and media it’s hard to erase and try and focus on decisive bold lines. But look at Alberto Giacometti‘s drawings, you’ll see basically what I was shamed for, and he didn’t do too badly. Maybe I should just own it?
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