Entry for Nov 16, 2014

On the Sunday afternoon I was at the ARC studio, andAndrea was working that day. These are a 2-hour study above and a 40-minute one below.
One thing I find with the water-soluble graphite is that it is diffcult aand slow to build up big dark passages. As an experiment I used diluted india ink washes on these initially, to establish 'bed values'  in the darker areas. On top of that I worked with water-soluble graphite pencils and Artgraf washes to add in skin tones and details. It seems a good marriage; the ink washes block in deep values very readily. It does mean the preliminary drawing is a commitment, though, as the ink cannot be retracted or moved like the graphites.
These are both ink washes, water-soluble pencila nd Artgraf washes and some additional graphite shading on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Montval watercolour paper.