graphite and colored pencils

thank you to everyone who left a comment in the last post...  it's a little weird to pick just one name, because truly,  i'd love to send everyone a sketchbook.

 terry, you're the winner...  it sounds like you will use it well.  : )

this little book lives in the bag that i take out walking.  it's made by sennelier and was brought back to me from paris by kathy, who is a present giver extraordinaire...

  it has the smoothest, creamiest paper in it imaginable, but until last week i hadn't used an 8B pencil  in it. 

then i saw a face in  a rock and  decided to use the 8B pencil so i could smudge the shadows in;  and, the face in the rock also had this kind of nose, which i've never really drawn before.  that  face is the one on the top right, and believe me, the rock one was much cooler, but wow!  did i ever get hooked on 8B smudgy faces with this kind of nose!!

when i got home i experimented on different kinds of paper from my scrap drawer.  the faces above are on a piece of paper cut from an old moleskine sketchbook...

smooth bristol...

and an unknown paper in a book with a japanese price tag on it.   i think someone gave this to me but i can't remember!

also in the japanese book...

i wanted to share these because they're super easy to draw...

here are the basics of what i use...  a mechanical pencil to draw the face initially (and you could do away with this and just start with the 8B), an 8B pencil to go over everything with (and make some lines heavier than others), a tortillon/blending stump to smudge with, and colored pencils.  i'm showing cream, sand, and light umber prismacolor pencils - they're the main colors i use for shading.  for cheeks and lips i use salmon, pink, red, orange, etc...

as you can see, i'm drawing the eyes about halfway down the face.  for the eyes, it's basically a line for the upper eyelid and a black spot for the iris/pupil.  the eyebrows go down and become the nose, and the mouth sits about halfway between the bottom of the face and the nose.  after you draw over everything with the 8B (or any dark lead) pencil, smudge away!  if you don't like it, erase!   add some light color with colored pencils - smudge some more - whatever!   it truly is fun and easy...

otherwise i've been out walking a lot;  seeing so much...   nature is endlessly impressive to me.   i can't imagine a human-drawn mandala more beautiful than this.

at the green shrine tree today, setting the cans back up, adding new stuff.  the sawdust in the foreground was created this summer by ants living in the tree.   it's a lot of sawdust.   i'm impressed...

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"To keep your process flowing, to feel the enjoyment of creation, you  first need to go where it is easy.  Easy means ripe.  Go where you are attracted, whether it be toward a detail or a large shape.    While you work on the part that is easy, other parts will mature in you, and they will be ready and waiting.  You move step by step, from the easiest to the easiest.  It is never tedious or tiring because there is no need to force anything.  Depth resides more in surrendering to spontaneity than in hardworking struggle.

~ Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley, 'Life, Paint and Passion'