At the charcoal face

I've just had a revelation and it's called Charcoal.

Seriously, why have I never used this medium before? I've owned a charcoal pencil for about two years that's just sort of languished alone and unwanted in the pencil box under the waxy lushness of my prismacolors.

I knocked this sketch up in around 10 minutes on a bit of paint-splattered scrap paper. Just thrown together without much planning, but look at the depth of shading I managed to achieve.

I've opened up a vein of possibility. Now I am dashing off to open a pristine page in my sketchbook to concentrate on a 'proper' piece.

I'm taking Jane DesRosier's Gritty Jane class....yes, and the Experimental Art class... and I've also enrolled on 21 Secrets... Well, the latter two are self-paced so I can take my time! Jane's first lessons involved blind contour drawing and charcoal. I'm hooked and will share this with the Sunday Sketchers. Hopefully I'll have time today to complete a more careful study, but there's a wall waiting to be painted (with emulsion!), and a tonne of work admin I've been putting off...

Ah the temptations and distractions of art.... how we love them!

PS: If you have time for an extra read, yesterday I wrote something from the heart - a thank you post to all my supportive friends here in Bloglandia.

Mirror Mirror

I love browsing through the Boden catalogue. The Summer one in particular has been the source of many models for my art. How kind of them to pose for free!

The Autumn offering plopped onto my doormat this week and, flicking through, one particular image cried out to be drawn.

Something of a challenge, a reflection. Definitely one to try out with a preliminary sketch (which fits rather nicely with Sunday Sketches!).

I added the ornate frame to the mirror from the stores of my imagination - the one in the photograph was just some cheap glass fixed to the wall and I thought my model deserved something far more opulent.

I don't imagine for one instant that this is going to be the easiest piece I've ever tackled. It's hard enough after all painting one figure without adding in the complication of a twin sister placed in exactly the right spot, leaning at the right angle and with the same look on her face.

Now I just have to pluck up the courage to start. I think my version needs some little quirk though - a touch of magic with something a little 'odd' about the reflection. What do you think? Shall we bring some story to the picture, a touch of the supernatural. A nice way to cover up any mistakes in the composition perhaps?

Sketch in charcoal pencil.

And, speaking of magic, if you have time check out yesterday's post - a tale of trolls, flowers and mythical creatures!