This exercise involves covering paper with charcoal and using a rubber to draw. It seems very well suited to drawing in a dark room which is a great project for a February evening.
As usual I practiced with a drawing of my dog!
Then vase of daffodils with the dark window behind. There were some interesting shadows which I haven't quite captured. The thin scribbly line on the right was made when I applied the charcoal. Although it isn't part of the design it doesn't detract from it. It's a very flat drawing so it doesn't fulfil the project requirements.
and this view of the light over my bed. I have lain in bed in the morning and studied the shadows of the lampshade when I should be getting up for work. I looked at a variety of views but none fully captures the play of light and shade. Still very flat and with more lines that I want. This needs to be viewed obliquely.
I wonder how much studying
Patrick Caulfield in Drawing 1 has lead me to notice the play of the light on the shade.
In search of a better subject I drew candles and a bottle. The composition was too dull and I couldn't persuade the paper to take enough charcoal to make the darks black enough. I returned to my most successful composition, the daffodils. This time I painted the paper yellow before applying the charcoal. I drew larger (A3) and zoned in on the flowers.
Two different compositions. This works best cropped
And this which is my best drawing so far
However I had planned to use the technique on a life drawing. The hall I draw in has very flat light and the model is a bit far away. I started with a full length figure.
Then, inspired by Part 1 Project 4 I zoned in a bit. This wasn't a very inspiring pose but it's a group session and I have no control of the model.
There is too much line where I have drawn back into the rubbed out charcoal so although this was good practice it doesn't fulfil the brief.
The large daffodil drawing is the strongest because of the balance of tone and the layout of the flowers. It's also the only drawing that gives any sense of depth and volume.
I found this project technically difficult because whichever paper I used didn't hold the charcoal very well and normal rubbers became immediately clogged with charcoal, I got by with a putty rubber and plenty of kneading. I do like working from dark to light but spent too much energy fighting with my tools and not enough on the actual drawing. The flowers were ok, but I'm not happy that I really found a suitable subject to draw with this technique.
Feedback
My tutor agreed that the daffodil picture was the strongest but suggested that I darken the darks with black conte and add white highlights. I find it difficult to get back into the same frame of mind when I return to a drawing which can be a good thing as I see it afresh but often means that I am a bit heavy handed in my approach.
The black works but I was a bit too generous with the white conte though it shows up more on the scan than in real life. I debated which way up it should be and accidentally came to this.
Which might make a border for a notebook.
But I digress........
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