Cornish sketching

Easter holidays always gives me some good sketching time on the coast

It looks like beautiful weather

the cold winds didn't bother the dog

and with hats, gloves and windproof jackets

quite a bit of drawing got done. Happy days.

Pushing the possibilties - Burnishing

Pushing the possibilities of the little Hepworth plates just a bit further with aquatint...

...and scraping/burnishing

Its been great fun just seeing what I can get from these two images. There's a depth to them now, they're not so one dimensional, an there seems to be more movement; the images are a little truer to the spirit of the original sketches. How much further can they go?!

Looking through to Constantine Bay

I have worked up a large drawing from my sketchbook drawings and from a series of photographs I took on the day.



'Looking through to Constantine Bay' Graphite 50x70cm


There a number of things I was aiming to achieve with this drawing

• A sense of drama in the image.
• A freshness, looseness in the drawing, so that the marks stayed interesting.
• Strong tonal contrast emphasised by broader areas of dark tones.

Crop section to show loose drawing marks

Crop section to show dramatic shapes against the sky

This drawing was relatively quick to do, given its size. I have increased  my confidence in working from my sketchbook. While I was sketching I was more thoughtful about what I wanted to record so that I would be able to do a further drawing in the studio. I paid particular attention to the shapes of the rock against the sky, and to the overall structure of the rocks. Having sat in front of this subject matter for a good long while I can now picture the scene more readily. Being able to work with the original sketches makes working on site much more exciting and rewarding. As the weather improves I am aiming to work on a much larger scale on site, leaving less to do in the studio.