Spring Drawing I

 

Spring Drawing 1-- Charcoal pencil on

6"x8" Strathmore Drawing paper, Medium weight

February 22, '10

I feel a need to take a little break from painting so I've set up this very simple still life and am committed to doing some drawing.   I chose to work with very hard charcoal in pencil form, a Kohinoor 'Gioconda.'  My goal for this work is to keep it simple so I have my simple setup, drawing paper, pencil, razor blade for sharpening pencil, and knead-able eraser.  I'm working in my bedroom, away from the TV.  I'm listening to the radio, WPKN.  The sun is shining and I have the curtains pulled back to get as full a benefit as possible.  Albert is sleeping on the end of the bed, in a large pool of warm sunshine.  With a big kitty smile on his face.

The items in my still life are:  a muslin dishtowel draped over a cardboard box and part of a red end table I like to use; a post-card size copy of an Audubon print, a Crow; a small stone I took from Dan's driveway many years ago because the shape caught my eye; a small child's small book written and illustrated by Lois Lensky, an artist and writer I met when I was a child.  The title of the book is Spring is Here.  The cover illustration is little children dancing around in a circle around the title.  I bought this book on eBay.  I remember having this book when I was a child.  Before I began this setup, it was my goal to use the book on the muslin with  2 other things.  I'd recently found the copy of the crow and decided to use it in something soon.  The stone seemed to be the right size and shape for the 3rd item....  I'm longing for spring; that's why I selected the book.  That's the sense of this whole thing, for now, anyhow....

I love using BIC mechanical pencils on this kind of Strathmore drawing paper but decided that I also love using the charcoal pencils.  So, because of the size of the paper, went for the charcoal pencil as it would fill in the space more quickly than the BIC.

I've enjoyed the first hour or so since I started this work.  My mind has been busy working out all the angles and the value pattern.  I've been enjoying using the charcoal.  My mind is in a more peaceful place than it was when I began.