I have been working on fairly smooth paper, primarily using graphite and nupastel, for the past few weeks. This week I opted to use graphite on a textured paper for one drawing, and charcoal with nupastel for the second one. I confess, I prefer nupastel and graphite, but it’s nice to try different media or different surfaces. Not having as much control over the media because of less practice, shakes things up a little, requiring me to draw more slowly or else to be more forgiving of my efforts if I am a little clumsy. The textured paper was Canson Mi-Teintes, which I have used before, but not strictly with graphite. At 19 x 25, the paper is a little larger than I have been working on, but though I intended to, I could not manage to fit the entire figure onto the page, even though she was sitting hugging her knees. The pose was our usual 30 minutes long, so I had to use some rough cross-hatching to block in the darker values.
My second drawing was on Stonehenge, one of the the smooth papers I’ve been drawing on recently, but charcoal is not as easily handled as graphite. Combining charcoal with nupastel certainly made it easier to graduate the toning, than using charcoal alone.
These drawings were made during the regular weekly figure drawing session at Studio b. in Alys Beach, in Northwest Florida.
I am adding in a minimalist sketch of the sweetest cat I have ever known, my cat Sumi, an adoptee from the Humane Society, a big Maine Coon cat. She didn’t live long, only 6 years, having compensated renal failure, and she didn’t gain the weight many Maine Coons have. This drawing shows her thinner summer coat, with wisps coming out of her ears and elbows. I made a sketch of her many years ago, and recently I transferred that sketch to good paper.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot