As you can probably see, I’ve been on a charcoal kick! Here I did a Raven but I don’t think my darks came out quite dark enough, or I’m not using enough contrast. I tried using white charcoal in areas I erased with my kneaded eraser but ended up using a little white jelly pen for the dots. I have titanium powder I could have tried but didn’t want it to be too bright.
In the past, I have had the habit of procrastinating by thinking I needed different supplies so I end up window shopping for more products that I “think” I need. I waste all my time learning about new products and never do any art.
So I have made it a mission to go through what I have and just use it, darn it! I had a kit from years and years ago that came with oil pastels. I have never used them before so I sorted them out and watched some videos on YouTube about how to use them. Well, my painting was terrible, it looked like a 1st grader using crayons. They wouldn’t blend at all, I tried solvents, my fingers, etc. Then I read that while they don’t expire, they do get brittle and/or unblendable over time, maybe that was it but I was not a fan! In the video I watched, the artist made beautiful strokes and then blended them with her fingers. The colors were so rich and looked as soft as pastels. Not mine!
For Christmas this year, I did get a small tin of water-soluble pencils…like four in a tin. I thought it would be interesting to try. I did an eye but did not use the correct paper. I thought the pencils might be too abrasive for watercolor paper but maybe I should try it on some mixed media paper next time to see if it will hold up better. What I discovered was that the softer pencils get darker when you wet them. The hard pencils fade and/or bleed if you are not careful or if you don’t have the right paper as you can tell. Anyway, it was my first time using them so I thought I would share my rough little sketch. I think pencils would have come out better but I am all for trying new things.
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