white world, black book

Last weekend we got a big dump of snow: 24cm at our house, and more in some other places.  "Oh, too soon!" everyone said.

*laughs*  Me, I love snow, and we went for a long walk by the river, where poplar leaves shone in brilliant golds and rich ochres in an otherwise muted landscape.  The river was steaming in the cold air, and distant hills appeared to be floating in the mist.  Such beauty, and how lucky am I to have been out walking in it, and with my favourite person too!

Due to the weather, my shift at the store was very slow, so I perused the sketchbook shelves and noticed a new book of black paper.  Well, comparatively dark grey really.

150g weight, for "Colour Pencil, Gel Pens, Metallic Markers"

My friends, be not limited by the printed word!

Often, words are only suggestions.  In the drawings above, I used oil sticks, gel pens, China markers, pencil crayons, children's wax crayons, oil paint markers and acrylic paint.  See?

A book of black paper, begun in the midst of a snowstorm.  I like that.

"Mobile" sketches

Yesterday was all-day, all-in studio.

I was planning to stretch a canvas

and try drawing with oil sticks on it

but I felt too lazy to do all that prep work

and I've been feeling ambiguous about canvas lately anyway

So I cleaned up the studio a bit, and found a pad of bond paper

very lightweight, translucent, and acid-free

and drew on that instead with the oil sticks

plus a bit of oil medium with brushes & a rag to smudge

and: kapow!

I have used these very materials in my portrait books with excellent results (of the materials if not the image at times, haha). However, this bond paper is somewhat different from the various sketchbooks' papers, so just to be on the safe side I will wait a few weeks to see if the oil medium bleeds and/or stains, before going forward with this particular process.  Testing, always testing.

Regardless of the long-term outcome of this particular little body of work, I must say it was a fantastic studio day, very energized and leaving me feeling full of possibility.  Really, I just love drawing, in whatever form.

Now today is errands: tending to the ever-burgeoning garden, mowing the lawn, dealing with a bit of laundry, hitting up the library for more books and picking up groceries on the way home.  Maybe I'll even make dinner!

Ambitious, huh?

:)