I have been working a lot in pastel these past few months and found myself looking for a change, a creative palate cleanser if you will before moving onto the next vibrant artwork. I typically have a few pictures that I would like to draw waiting in the wings that I will fit in around commissions.
One of these is this horse who was particularly suited to a graphite portrait. Pencil is my first love when it comes to art, it is all I used for many years. I have a trusty old pencil case which contains four mechanical pencils – grades B, 2B, 3B and 4B, a kneadable eraser and some spare leads. After being lost in so many fabulous colours in recent times the simplicity of monochrome and my beloved pencils has been very calling me, and it is great to be back.
If you look closely at this sneak peek of my current work in progress you will see there are a variety of textures. These are thanks to the texture of the paper I draw on – Stonehenge by Legion, and how I apply the pencil, how soft that pencil is, how sharp the point is and how many layers I have laid down. Drawing is like a dance on the page, a few steps forward, some retraced and some reversed. Over time you find moves that suit you and that convey what you are trying to say.
