Gradations and Textures

Gradations and Textures

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Graphite on paper, 11" x 15" .

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Today I sat with a quarter-sheet of watercolor paper and a regular yellow #2 pencil and started with a scribble drawing all over the page.

Marvellous things suggest themselves from scribble drawings, from observing castles in the clouds to perceiving methods of blending areas of tone.

In this drawing, I used two main ways of laying down graphite on the paper. One was sketching a sequence of curved lines, positioned close to each other, and roughly following the contour line of the "object" I was depicting. The other was moving the pencil lightly over the surface of the paper in a tight curlicue line, touching the same spot over and over to make it darker and darker. Each technique has its merits. I still don't know which one I like better.

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