Conte crayons and exhibition

After my last blogpost I couldn't resist buying these Conte carres. Box of 12 'portrait' colours on offer at Colemans at the moment (£8.99). They look nice in the box, however I might break them up to use on their side.


I've taken some work (life drawings and portrait paintings) to the Stamford Arts Centre for the students' Summer Exhibition. The exhibition is on in the Arts Centre gallery from Wed 31st August until Saturday 10th September, 9.30am to 9pm. Most of the work will be on sale. Come and take a look, have a drink in the bar or a coffee in the cafe.

No-one ever regretted buying art!

Life drawings

Two more drawings from the Life Class. I like to try different approaches, and respond to the model and pose before deciding what to do. It also depends what mood I'm in. The first is using Conte chalks on 'charcoal' Pastelmat paper. I used chalks on their side to produce larger areas of colour. The chalks I have are quite saturated so I deliberately pushed the saturation. I think I need to get more subtle colours.

The second is a more conventional charcoal portrait on off-white paper (cream Ingres paper pre-prepared using Sepia ink wash).

Life drawings

A couple of drawings from last night's Life Drawing at Stamford Arts Centre. This was a new model to me. How anyone can hold poses for an hour is beyond me, I think they like the challenge. She would make a great anatomy model.

One drawing in charcoal then Pierre Noire Conte pencil, the other using four conte chalks then Pierre Noire Conte pencil. Click images to zoom.