Where have I been?

Good question. It’s been too long since I last updated my blog and for that, dear reader, I am very sorry.

Life has got in the way of updating my website, although I have tried to keep going with some form of art practice most days. As you may have seen from my section of drawings, here, for a long time I have been practicing using charcoal or conte carres on very cheap newsprint paper. It certainly has allowed me to do a lot of drawings without breaking the bank on materials.

Of late, however, I’ve had a go with Faber Castell Pitt Artist’s Pens as in the images on this page. The pens I am using are the sepia variety and although I tend to be one for the thick brush when painting, I’ve particularly enjoyed using the fine (0.3mm) model. My experience is that life drawings are a bit more of a challenge with pen, as (obviously) you can’t correct any mistakes. I especially find that faces can be tricky to get right as, by default, I tend to go a bit heavy on facial features and we have an uncanny knack of seeing when something is wrong with a face. For that reason, I think it’s best to go as light as possible when trying to portray noses/mouths etc! It’s quite satisfying when my scribbly marks turn in to something resembling the human form and I’m therefore finding this kind of drawing practice quite addictive.

Pen tends to wick through thin paper, so for this reason I’ve been using a thicker Seawhite of Brighton pad made from recycled paper cups - it works fine for this kind of drawing and has minimal texture. Excitingly, I have just bought some spiral-bound pads from the Daley Rowney “Ebony” series (as favoured by master artist and illustrator, John Howe). I will update my blog with a review of those pads in the very near future! Stay tuned….

I still can’t do feet though.