Covid Drawing...

 Yellowstone Wolf in Pastel Pencils

Well guys, here we go again. Currently we are in Day 4 of our (maybe) 7 day circuit breaker lockdown and it looks like it will be extended a week further. I can only hope they can get this under control soon and those currently affected recover with no ill effects.

As all classes and workshops have been cancelled for the duration, I thought I would show you all the progress drawing of the demonstration work I was doing with my Monday and Thursday evening sessions using pastel pencils.

The wolf image was supplied to me by Mike Sibley, an image he shot while in Yellowstone a few years ago - thank you Mike!
And I hope any of you who wish to show me your work will do so and we can post it again here on the blog for the others in your group to see. Let me know via email.

This was the stage I have reached on last Thursday evening class. Paper is Art Spectrum Color Fix Smooth 'Blue Haze'. The base blue color has been intensified with broad strokes of a Rowney indigo blue stick tonked back with a rag. I completed the eyes to a near finish and the added the darker base tones in dark sepia, deep indigo blue and chestnut tones using Staedtler and Carbethello pastel pencils.

Progressively building up the dark and mid-tone fur using chestnut, dark umber, gold and ochre with hints of a purple plum color. This is done with Carbethello pastel pencils - except for the dark umber which is the Staedtler. Some black Carbethello touched into the eye, nose and inner ear.

Adding lighter tones over the mid tones - golds, creams. Still only using the Carbethello pencils.

Light tones added - cream yellow, light grey, white Carbethello. Accents of indigo and black Carbethello. Some soft white Rembrandt pastel stick is used to add bright white.

At this stage I could call it finished, but I wanted to build up the lighter tones more and had nearly filled the surface textured. So I did what the pastel-purest frowns upon and gave the work a light spray fix of Windsor Newton fixative. This tends to darken up the pastel but it also 'sets' it somewhat and gives me another surface layer to work on.

The finished work. 

Building up more fur work over the entire piece, adding darks and lights as needed. Again, a soft white Rembrandt pastel stick was used to create the brightest whites. 

So... show me what YOU have been up to in this lockdown and I will post it here with my comments.

Stay well...