Look Who’s Back!

My BF is now back from his one-week road trip to Italy with his son Yay! Of course it’s wonderful to have my own time and space, but I did miss his company. Not all was too bad though as I kept myself busy with housework, gardening, painting, blogging and keeping up with my 5-day juice fast! The first day, I tidied and cleaned the house up and then relaxed that evening. Not the sort that watches TV, I simply got out my sketchbook and got creative again. I must have missed him so much because I ended up making a kawaii sketch of me and him together!

Charcoal and Chalk

Seeing the success of the charcoal and chalk in my last sketch using toned grey paper, I thought of going back to it but with the toned tan paper this time. I love the sharp contrast between the black charcoal and white chalk and being able to play around with them to experiment with light and shade. Firstly an outline was drawn using charcoal pencil, then I “colored” away with chalk and both the vine and compressed versions of the charcoal sticks. The vine gives a more solid black than the compressed one. And the heart in the middle? I was not sure if I wanted to make it dark or light and decided to make it a different color altogether. A conté stick in Sanguine seemed the best choice. Compared to soft pastel, a conté stick is less messy, being a mixture of graphite and clay hence waxier and firmer. I also like its earthy shade. For blending, I used a cotton bud but need to practice more on blending techniques!

What fun, nevertheless, it is to go back to the basics and scribble away with chalk and charcoal! Gives me a chance to do a bit of practice with light and shade, something I need to work on. Even better is getting to sketch something cute and sweet like us together. So whilst I finished this drawing during his absence, I waited to share it when he was back so you could all see our happy faces!