Black on Grey on White

We jumped straight in with a study of a dapple grey gelding known by the name of Marble Arch. He's part Irish draught had has those lovely strong features. Difficult to see in the scan is his profile. He has a roman nose. I see this as being the major challenge in this portrait. Technical detail: Substrate: Hahnemuehle paper Nostalgie 200gr Tools: Derwent pencil 6B & 2B Started with the eye. Once I felt this was good enough to get stuck in I moved on to the neck. I picked up a 6B Derwent and started on the mane. Rendering the hairs with thick strokes to create shadow and depth. I then moved on to the neck muscle. Drawing the daple markings (with a 2B) and using them to delimit and highlight the muscle structure as well as create its complex colour structure. Dapled grey is one of my favorite colours in a horse. To render its just as in real life: tricky (stable stains feel very at home on a greys' quarters and belly) and difficult to get just right but when in tip top shape...

Hello all. Great to be back in the studio and even more fantastic to welcome all my new followers. Summer is swinging its heart out at this end. It's picture perfect... All the scribbles pals left blunt and dormant have been coaxed out of their hibernation "summernation" and sharpened up. I was missing them, badly! Black on Grey on White 's posts (sadly a little sporadic until September) will be covering three new wips (two equine and one canine) and my encounter with Rubens. So without any further ado I'll trundle over to the drawing board and get cracking on exercising the Derwents, the Staedlers and the FaberCastells. Will post their exercise routine tomorrow. Cheerio

Bowing down with a great big smile and wishing you all a wonderful summer. Time has come for my wee blunt scribble friends to take a well deserved rest. They have packed their bags and are off with the fairies cherries. Few loose ends to tie up and I'll be following them. Black on Grey on White will be back with a vengeance in a few weeks. Look forward to catching up with you all then. Have a fan-da-be-d0-see summer. Ciao ciao.

The red drawers in my studio hold well over a 108 pencils. They are of different descent but share the same ability to draw a smooth professional line. All are grand scribblers, crucial players in the creation of my work. All play the same type of graphite music, some louder, some softer, some faster but all sound harmonious and clear. (BTW, there is a great blog: Pencil Talk all about pencils, pencils and more pencils. This blog orchestrates facts, figures and technicalities around the graphite pencil and as they aptly say "exploring the art and science of pencils since 2005". Well worth checking out .) Back to my studio inhabitants. All have great blood lines . They are the Staedlers, the Derwents, the Faber-Castells, The Cretacolors and the Prismacolors. The Staedlers (Made in Germany - seriously big: around 2.500 people work for Europe's largest pencil manufacturers) live along side the Derwents ( Made in England - my favorites- launched in 1938), the Faber-Castel...

This is short and sweet. The sun is to blame. Pulled took me by the hand on Friday and coldly let go this morning. Three days of a sunny cyberless world. Beautifully strange. Wrapped up in my other reality reminded me that I had not blow my horn about me myself and I . A few weeks ago, a cool article/interview came out in The Equinest (a really informative and dynamic site for all things equine). The article is a recommended read for finding out more about my views, inspirations (Da Vinci is mentioned...) and motivations. I would also like to warmly greet (and reassure) all my new followers. Don't run away; there is usually no trumpet playing here but much much more art. The melodies made by my pencils sound a tad better than the sound of my own horn (signing off: that was slightly off key :)!) Toodleloo!

Untitled Black Lab Graphite on Paper, 17x22 cm Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved. Finished and awaiting approval (and a name). Below: the vital steps that led me to the end result. Following on from where I left off last week here are steps 4, 5, 6 and 7. Step 4 Here more work has been done on the bone structure and depth. This was done by refining the layer of 4B and adding to the nose and mouth. Remembering to follow the lay of the hair.Work has also begun on the longer hairs around the neck. Step 5 More emphasis is brought to the jaw line and start given to the ear. Invisible on the scan: work was also refined around the eyes. Step 6 This step was all about getting more hair blocked in and establishing movement and texture to the neck. The ear also takes on a little more shape and texture. At this stage I am only working with a 2B and varying the layers over the blocked darks. Step 7 This step is were the nose and the lighter areas of the head get "covered" in ha...

pARTied, had a smashing time and no headache to nurse!!! "Belmont's Tail End" Graphite on Paper 36x20 cm (14'x8') Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved Went to a virtual art pARTy organised and hosted by fellow artists Kim Santini , Linda Shantz . This simply means one reference pic, one day to produce an inspired piece of work and another day to peek at all the variations on a theme provided by the other participants. This pARTy's reference picture was provide by photographer Juliet Harrison . These are great challenges, especially for someone like me who likes to work too slowly. With such a short dead-line you have to simplify and work loose and ....speed up! Went for the first thing I saw: the bay horses eye and dilated nostril. The diagonal composition emerged from there. Sketched down a few lines (in ink would you believe!) picked up a 2B Derwent and got scribbling on Strathmore Bristol Smooth ( 300 series). Loaded The Killers into the hi-fi...