Charcoal drawing - Looking back, looking down

A new charcoal drawing

This is a similar view to one I've played around with before, and looks back down the lane towards home, and also looks back to the weather we had earlier this year. Fortunately this lane hasn't looked like this at all this summer and is as hard as nails at the moment.

I'm playing with returning the emphasis to the foreground, putting the ground first, showing the path I'm about to step on... hopefully bring the viewer along on the walk.

Charcoal drawing - May Path

I've been making a few large scale sketches to work out images that have possibilities for etching.

This is the most recent image to be transferred into etching, drawn from sketchbook studies and photos taken back in May when the new growth was starting to fill out and when the sun was quite high.

By late summer it became almost impossible to make out the floor of this path, so I had to revert to photos to finish the drawing.


adaptions to the foreground and shadows 

There's a lot of new work underway at the moment for the exhibition at New Brewery Arts in January, but not a lot finished... back to the drawing board for me then.

Charcoal drawing - viewpoint

I wondered if a different viewpoint would produce an interesting piece.

 



I noticed this minor path made by animals when I was doing a photographic recce at the end of the summer. The scale of the leaves and the dark leading to the light intrigued me.
The drawing challenged me, and there was more interpretation on the drawing board than I expected.

This earlier stage shows how the tonal balance and shaping changed as the drawing progressed. The process of bringing a drawing from the paper continues to be both challenging and endlessly fascinating.

Charcoal puddles

When I previously posted about the fascinating puddles that I found in a local lane I decided to rework a similar view to see if I could get closer to my ideal of this place. I also wanted to deal with the foreground more effectively.

 

I was much happier with this reworking, the looser foreground brings the viewer into the image and I feel happier with the contrast of tonal values between foreground and background.

Cropping images makes for interesting results, this brings the focal point to the centre, and visually gives us more background. So should I tear the original down, or use the crop as a starting point for an etching?

Charcoal - fascinating puddles

When the weather was very wet, not so long ago, I took loads of photos and made sketches. I found the shapes and light changes created by the puddles fascinating. Drawing them took some thinking through... but I am now getting happier with some scaled up charcoal versions.

Here's a starting point

Good distance, pleased with the soft trees and hedgerows in the distance, but how much detail to put in the foreground?

 Oh, oh! this is too much, the grass has turned into a heavy block, dragging the image in weird directions.

Puddles, Steps Lane 2 charcoal 70 x 35cm

Much better - balance is restored, I love the flexibility of charcoal, being able to draw it in, and then take it out again.

Charcoal drawing - a streaming path

Walking around our favourite woodland last month we came across this path only to find that the heavy rains had turned it into a stream.

I loved the look of the water describing the shape of the path and the structure of the trees to the side. I didn't have my sketchbook because of the weather but I was able to take a series of photos to get the scene. The images nagged me, and called to me and so I've had to have another go at trying to draw water...

Getting the background tree structures in was fun and relaxing to do. I was building up to the water challenge...

Here I'm starting to tackle the textures showing through the water...

And here are the first tentative marks of flowing water, its so difficult to know just how dark or light these marks need to be.

If I darken them I can always take away again with a putty rubber...

Time to take a step back now and have a think about this.