a rather experimental sketching week this week, resulting in a pretty shocking set of sketches :D the best i can bring you is yet another half finished piece (after 2 hours work). i may try to finish this off tomorrow, if they don't get moved in the interim. i got lots of compliments on these last night.

my experiments included:

- taking my sketchbook with me on a day out = truly dreadful sketch of pier in time it takes a 3 yr old to eat an icecream. i struggle with complex things as i never know what to include and what to leave out and end up putting in too much, usually.

- loose pen drawing = not as bad as i expected sketch of feet, you can at least tell what they're meant to be :D

- first try at white conte on black paper = a sketch of a candle that was about as far as it's possible to be from what i envisaged. i had fun playing with blending, and i'm reasonably happy with how i solved the problem of representing a diffuse glow (scraped the crayon into powder over the paper then blended), but i still need to work out how to make the mark i want from the crayon

so it was a relief to return to familiar old pencil drawing, where i'm marginally less at sea, although i've still a lot to learn about not just picking the 4b cos it's the only one you have next to you at the time. the shoes could have done with a lighter touch, i haven't left myself very much wiggle room in terms of available darker tones.

i've had a wonderful time researching this weekend - quilts and tattoo flash and captain scott and platinum printing. the latter two related (well, all related actually, but the last two more directly so) and involving massive amounts of drooling over the ponting portfolio. oh to be a very very rich person indeed who could dream of owning such an incredibly beautiful and poignant set of images <wistful sigh>

(btw please excuse crappy phonecam pix, will replace them when i can be arsed to drag my proper camera out. i'll try to do some more work on the shoes before then too).