Graphite Experiment #2

I am preparing to start a piece in which I want to use powdered graphite because it will provide the right textural surface, and uniformity in value, for the object it will represent. The problem is how to use it well. So, I have been trying different ways to apply it, looking for consistency in both the medium and my own skill using it. I've learned a lot of new things to add to my "toolbox" and I would like to share them with you.

The sample above demonstrates use of masking and surface altering to add the powdered graphite. Each method produced some interesting results, for instance - PG applied directly to the paper produced a cool grey, PG applied over matte medium produced a warm grey. Erasing from the matte medium surface is easier than trying to clean a spot of PG that has been directly applied to the paper. These are important things to know before I jump in with the stuff and mess up my work (I really hate starting over!).

For this sample I worked on Bristol vellum, and used tracing paper to make a pattern for the mask; my tools included: General's Powdered Graphite; pencils - Derwent F, Tombow B and 4B; paper stump, facial tissue paper, 220 garnet sandpaper, taklon acrylic brush, and acrylic matte medium; electric eraser, kneaded eraser, crow feather (for cleaning after erasing); low tack masking paper, Xacto knife, cutting board; workable fixative. I think that's all I had on hand - if I forgot something here, it will be included in the captions.

If you are a process person, this can be fun! If you aren't this may be tedious. Either way, my idea is to push the graphite medium out a little further to enhance the expression of my work. Powdered graphite won't always be suitable for use but sometimes it might be exactly what is needed. My objective is to be able to use it well.

Experimenting with Powdered Graphite

This is one of the first times I actually finished a piece with Powdered Graphite as one of the mediums, and while I like the results of the PG, it was one of the most labor intensive mediums I've used. I ran into all kinds of problems trying to make the medium work for me and in the end I had to make more changes in my drawing than I was comfortable with. So, it was obvious to me that I needed to come to terms with PG, and learn more about how to use it.

I put out the question to other graphite artists asking how they used PG in their work - methods of application, types of surface, pitfalls, what worked best for them. I discovered that there are so many approaches to this powdery monster, I wasn't prepared for the variety of answers. However, the best advice I received was to experiment with it on my own and see what works for me. While this was a great idea, it tended to poke at my left brain which always expects "if a then b" and not "if a maybe b unless c gets in the act, which results in.."

So - this is going to be an ongoing thing and I want to share with you some of the results so you can try them out too. The photos are lousy because I have to battle the cat just to get my work done. I keep my drawing table at a low angle when working with powders and/or liquids and she knows this is the best time to harass me for cat treats. By the way, cat paws don't make good blending tools. I keep page protectors handy for moments like this!

One of the artists that shared some of her methods was Patricia Lucas-Morris; she definitely has developed a remarkable working relationship with PG and I recommend that you check her website http://plmdrawings.com/ to see some very fine drawings. She recommended using acrylic matte medium on the paper before applying the graphite - so my first experiments started there. I made a few discoveries and ran into more questions but it produced some interesting results.

First of all, I wasn't sure if Patricia meant that I should mix the graphite with the matte medium or use the matte like a liquid mask on the drawing - so I tried both. I ended up accidentally making a graphite tar that produced a great flat black, slow to dry, but can be gently manipulated with an eraser, or accepts more graphite if you erase too much. I worked on sketch book paper, Bristol vellum, and Stonehenge drawing papers. Check out the photos and captions on the Powdered Graphite page (right menu) for the tests. I have a way to go, but I will post my results as I go along in future posts.

Pen and Ink Drawing

It's been a while since I have worked with pen and ink, it was a surprise to find one of the classroom models that I made for that unit. It is kind of neat to revisit work that has been out of sight and out of mind for a few years; I inspired myself to dig out my dip pens and do a few new pieces.

I had the students look for an old photo, preferably not a portrait, with lots of textural opportunities. The picture I worked from was an old hotel in Yerington, Nevada that intrigued me then and even now (it looks like a place with stories to tell). My guess is that the building is no longer standing, it was pretty run down and the desert is not always very kind to old wooden buildings.

The drawings are on one large sheet of paper (18 x 24) folded in half, "hot dog" style. Three 7" squares across the inside of the fold provided three views of the same place. Each view has to offer something different in method of rendering with ink or feature one full and two details from the photo. My example includes one detail and two ways to use the medium. This gave students a lot of opportunities in their presentation. Besides the sizes of each square, and the variety in approach, I did stipulate that the pen must be a dip pen; they could also use some brush work as well.

Needless to say, we produced some pretty good drawings from this assignment and some new converts to pen and ink drawing! Check the Page menu on the right to see other views from this drawing.

Gesture Drawing

Among my first college art teachers was Howard Brodie, known then for his military and courtroom art that filled the evening news for years before, and after, I was in his class. I had no idea who he was, though I knew his work (terrible at names!). However, I never forgot his name after the summer of 1969, not because of his reputation but because of a show, mounted on the school's walls, of his gesture drawings. I looked at those drawings daily, before going to other classes and his, but I never looked at the artist's name. During one session of drawing from the model, I drew in my frantic style, hoping that Mr. Brodie wouldn't come by and get on my case, as the other instructors did, for not finding and drawing the perfect line. Lost in the drawing, I didn't realize he was standing behind me until I heard him say "yes!". He called the others around and began saying "this is alive, this is not static, this is what excitement is about, this is drawing."

Gesture drawing is still my favorite beginning to every piece I do. Setting up a work through gesture helps me understand the energy of the form - even in a passive pose, the bends and folds, the diagonals and right angles - speak of potential, the next move. Gesture let's me feel that with my pencil.

A lot of the gesture drawings I'm posting on the Pages (right side menu) were done in the classroom, with student models. All to often, I forgot I was teaching and would just draw, moving around the room for different angles, while the students labored away on one drawing! I would come up for air long enough to say "there is no perfect line - stop trying to find it and draw the model". Whatever I was doing, it eventually sank in and my kids produced some great pieces.

Drawing at Borders - Still in Mourning!

Once upon a time, there was a place called Borders, a bookstore with a café and plenty of music playing. They had books, and chairs to sit in,magazines, coffee, poetry readings,open mike's for bands, stuff for kids to do, but best of all, Borders was a great place to go and meet fellow artists - and draw. I used to tell students that I would be there on a Friday night, bring your sketchbook (and your date) and let's lay down some graphite.

On the way out the door, I would grab "stuff", stuff like plastic wooly mammoths, wooden manikins in different sizes, tiny porcelain tea cups, whatever, stuff to draw. We would set up "still life" arrangements at our tables, guzzle big cups of coffee and chow down on scones, or brownies. Sketchbooks would open and talk would trickle down as pencils did the talking for us. When we needed a break, we would wander the stacks, looking for the books we had to have that night - Borders did not suffer from our Friday night takeover - and then head back to the sketchbooks for another hour or two.

Borders closed down, across the country, and left us high and dry. Our little band dissolved, for lack of a place to meet, and drawing night came to an end. The old Borders building is being turned into another furniture store - because we need more furniture stores. The competition bookstore - Barnes and Noble - is not meeting place friendly; the atmosphere is more "you got your book, now get out". The Starbucks that is squeezed against the wall makes lousy coffee, is painted black, and has no room for those who might linger with sketchbook in hand.

I'm still in mourning.

I've posted some of the pages (look on the navigation bar) from my sketchbook that were done at Borders and if you were one of the "gang" who met there and you still have some of your work, look up my page - Hunt's Pencil - on Facebook and post a few. Or, just say "Hey, Ms. Hunt".

Observational Drawing

First, let me state the obvious: we live in a 3-dimensional world. We live in a space that includes depth, height, width, mass, and we navigate through this world with our 5 senses, or occasionally less than 5, but whatever tools we physically have, they are essential for us to collect the information that is needed to make the most of life. Our environment is rich in stimulation and it entices us to interact with it in a multitude of ways. Among those interactions that have been with human kind since very early times is the act of recording what we see, and attempting to change ourselves, and our environment, with the knowledge that we glean from experiencing the natural world.

Currently, the trend is to draw from the 2-dimensional image, particularly photographs. No problem. Photographs are a fantastic resource and provide ready reference material for the artist. I take and use photographs for studio work, especially when the “model” is going to be a short timer, or the location is one that I won’t be able to access again in a reasonable time. Light is constantly changing and shadows move, intensify, or disappear altogether, and, if you are working in colour, that can be a disaster for a piece in progress – or, like Claude Monet, you can spend a couple of years drawing the same subject multiple times a day to record the changes with the movement of light. Then again you can take a photograph for reference.

Photographs, however, do pose a few problems – especially for beginners. First, and foremost, they represent a flat world. If you are working from a colour photograph, you are working from a different set of rules where colour is concerned, because the colour is “printed” from a colour wheel that is a bit different than the one an artist would use. This doesn’t mean that you can’t make adjustments that will make your work look 3-d, but you do need the ability to see what is needed and how to manipulate your pencils or paints to create the illusion of real.

How do you develop that skill? You draw from life. I know, your first thought – when it comes to life drawing – is that it requires a naked person holding a pose while a gazillion eyes peer over drawing boards and half as many hands are busy scribbling away on newsprint drawing pads. I guess you could call that life drawing, but so is drawing your cat, twisted in a contorted pose while sleeping propped up against your bed pillows. Life drawing is drawing what you see in the spaces that surround you. To avoid the confusion, I refer to life drawing as observational drawing, which is drawing from the real world as opposed to drawing from the 2-d world.

Because of the ever-growing emphasis on electronic media to provide visual stimuli, on a screen of additive colour, some artists are turning to the flat source of the virtual world. Keep in mind what the word “virtual“ means when you critique your work. Once again, the virtual world offers maybe only 2 of your senses the opportunity to flex themselves into shaping your understanding of the subject matter you wish to represent. Which brings me back to observational drawing - finally.

Drawing from the objects around you allows you to experience more than sight and sound, you also take in the temperature of the room, the smells in the air, your own state of comfort – or lack of – and maybe even taste (my son and I had a plateful of yucky onion rings at the Getty cafeteria, so instead of letting them go to waste, we drew them. It was interesting how the taste of the onion rings influenced our rendering of the subject!) Experience adds to your observations of the moment. Experience, itself, is not observation. Have you ever watched people at an art museum, or, for that fact, any museum? Most of the time they stroll past the objects on exhibit – experiencing them in about 3 seconds – seeing, but not observing. Many people are more likely to read the informational card next to the object than spend that extra time observing it.

For many years, I had my high school drawing students, go outside and fill bags with leaves. Not just any leaves but leaves that each person found “interesting”. From their bags the students selected “the leaf”, the one they were going to spend the next 3 weeks looking at (I didn’t tell them about the 3 weeks part). The leaf was carefully mounted on a piece of strong paper and we then spent a couple of days analyzing the leaves. They had to write down sensory information, biological information, descriptions of the veining, colour and colour changes, and on, and on. They weren’t happy and constantly reminded me that this was an art class, not a science class or an English class – little did they know…

After a long and intense period of observation, we began drawing the leaves, with the admonition that if they drew a symbolic leaf, it was a failing grade, they must draw what they wrote about with the knowledge that in 2 days time the leaves had already begun to change. They would eventually draw the leaves 3 times in 7”x7” boxes, side-by-side on one sheet of paper. The first drawing in graphite only, the second in coloured pencil and the third in watercolours. Quietest 3 weeks of the semester! The drawings were fantastic, and they weren’t sure whether they wanted to kill me or hug me. I still meet students from years back who make it a point to tell me that they collect leaves, celebrate the beauty of leaves, draw leaves, but most of all, after that, the world looked richer. Point made!