Chiaroscuro Drawing of a Female Model
Charcoal on Canson Mi Teintes Paper, 5/2/07

As I sat at my bench working away at this drawing, I was busy thinking about a few different things. Things at work have been tumultuous. We have new management and my job is currently being “looked at.” Sometimes this means one should start looking at jobs. My mind has been racing around ideas for the job hunt. I need a portfolio. I should “network” more, right? Monster.com is kind of crappy, right? I could always work at a bookstore. Or maybe a Chapeau Shop. You know, like, “what size do you wear, sir?” And then you answer…

My instructor’s voice woke me up from my day-dream-drawing. “Are you drawing on the rough side of the paper on purpose?”

“Shit,” said I. “I mean, ‘yes.’”

The drawing wasn’t going well, and it was my last one of the class, and I made it even more difficult by not paying attention to what I was doing. The rough side of Canson Mi Teintes paper has a waffle texture. It’s easy for that pattern to dominate your drawing, especially if you use broad strokes. I wasn’t aware of it. I was simply going very slowly and putting down small marks.

After the embarrassment passed, I decided to try to use the waffle pattern for the model’s hair and the drapery. I stuck with very short controlled marks for her skin.

This style of marking caused me frequent trips to the electric pencil sharpener. Chunks of charcoal, conte or graphite were always jammed inside of it.

From my bench, I would listen to a student, an art teacher, I believe, grind her pencil away in that sharpener, tsking and sighing. When it was my turn to sharpen and I found that I could barely insert my pencil part-way, let alone sharpen it to a point, she always popped over to ask me: “Do you think there’s something stuck inside of it?” A few minutes of surgery with a fellow student’s pocket knife would invariably produce a chunk of whatever material the woman was using.

Great class. Looking forward to more figure drawing. A big thanks to Mr. Norman, too.