Black on Grey on White

It's fantastic! So many of you are asking questions that I know the answer to and that I feel confident answering! Happy dances! Therefore, it may very well be time (after thousands of hours at the drawing table) to, finally, create a wee series of tips and share my experience with all of you here on my blog. My Short Drawing Tips (SDT) are going to be short (yep!), exclusively about the technical side of graphite drawing (double yep!) and will all be based on my trials experienced and errors made. Some of you may remember I shared my drawing recipe a while back with a more poetic focus. The objective this time round, is quite simply to share, in a short and snappy way, how I approach my craft. These SDT s are never going to boast being the right and only way, they are just what works for me . Topics covered will be the very popular topics of choice of paper, pencil choice, drawing surface, sharpeners, fixatives, blending but also extra personal tips of the trade. ...

With each new winter, my right hand slows down just that wee bit more. Decades of "poo shoveling" and hard outdoor equine management is starting to take it's toll on my joints - more importantly my right hand. I'm not too worried (strong images of work produced by Renoir while crippled by arthritis remind me of what can be achieved when the passion is strong!) Knowing that I am not the only artist relying on a fully functional, mobile hand, I would like to share my home remedies of how I try to overcome and beat the frustration of drawing with a slow, overworked hand. A big chunky hard-wearing mug filled to the max with piping hot water is held a few minutes. This is too let the heat seep in and warm-up the whole of my hand. The warmth generated helps to relax it and get a better grip of my pencil. Bliss. Once the warmth is in deep, I move on to a few warm- up exercises. Circles of all shapes and sizes are sketched on scrap paper. Paying special attention that they...