Black on Grey on White

It would be fair to say that a million words have not been flowing off my keyboard lately. Sorry for the sporadic posting. Life has a habit of keeping me on my toes with all sorts twists and turns. This week has been no exception. Sadly, all this spinning has kept me away from the buzz of the cyberwaves. Actually to be very honest, in order to get away from the twirling demands, we (pencils, cats and I) have been hiding deep and low in the cave studio and working on my latest commission. Time has been spent on Big Ben, a great big (surprise!) bay gelding. Sadly, due to injury, Ben is not able to live a full active life but is incredibly well cared for and loved by his owners. Below are the first few hours into the drawing. I am using a 200g Hahnemuehler paper and Derwent's 2B, 6B and B. So far so good. I'm a happy with his expression meaning: green light to go ahead and complete the portrait. All being well will be back at the drawing board on Monday and will be sure to post ...

School's back, dust's off the drawing board, pencils are sharpened and work has begun. Here are the first steps in my new equine portrait. This chap is a lovely dressage gelding. I met him this summer in Germany where he posed very nicely for a few reference pics. He his known affectionately as "Calle" . The usual gear has been pulled out. Hahnemuehle Nostalgie Paper, love the off-white colour and not-so-toothy surface. Works well for portraits. Derwent 6B and I filled my mechanical clutch pencil with koh-i-noor 2B (never tried them and they seem to be good.) Below, steps one and two, here I have established the eye and expression with the 2B as well as establishing the darks with the Derwent 6B. Tomorrow will yield (I have no doubt) further progress. Today's was good, the new found "freedom" and extra hours worked wonders on getting this portrait off to a good start.

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...

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...