First of all I prepared supports using a variety of mediums, clear gesso, PVA glue and Liquitex flexible modelling paste.
First I covered cartridge paper with clear gesso and when it was dry used PVA (1) and Liquitex flexible modelling paste (2) to create an outliner barrier. Then I:
- Dribbled PVA onto the paper to form lines
- Used the edge of a credit card dipped in PVA and stamped to create lines
- Tinted the PVA with Indian ink, for a contrast, and made lines with the edge of a credit card.
- Used paste and tinted paste to create a raised outline barrier
Next I tested different papers on both sides of the paper, once the PVA and paste were dry, I used a variety of different media to see how it reacted with the paper, gesso’ed paper, PVA and paste and what effects I could get.
I used: Willow charcoal, 9B graphite stick, Soft pastel, Derwent Art bar, Inktense blocks and Oil pastel.
I also tried different ways of blending: finger, baby wipes and chamois.
Test 1
Cartridge paper and gesso with charcoal, 9B graphite stick, Derwent Art bars, oil pastel and soft pastel.
Test 2 Right side of Daler Rowney mixed media paper with PVA and Liquitex paste.
Test 3 Wrong side of Daler Rowney mixed media with PVA and Liquitex paste.
Test 4 Right side of Aquarelle Hot Pressed with PVA and Liquitex paste.
Test 5 Wrong side of Aquarelle Hot Pressed with PVA and Liquitex paste.
Conclusions
- The papers all seemed to react the same, and I liked the effect of the soft pastel on gesso, so it didn’t matter which paper I would decide to use.
- All the blending was down with my finder on the gesso as the surface was too rough for the baby wipes and chamois
- The PVA was easy to blend over and the colour slight tinted the PVA which could be removed with an eraser.
- The black tinted PVA worked just as well as the clear. This would be a design decision when thinking about the final drawing.
- The Liquitex paste was really nice. It gave me the raised effect that I wanted, but I found it too rough to work with and would probably be better worked into with a brush, which I didn’t want to use.
- My favourites are the gesso’ed paper, the soft pastel and charcoal blended with my finger. The soft pastel gave a really deep black and the charcoal gave a softer black. The PVA worked the best for blending over and could be erased to remove staining to bring out the background lines.
Next I prepared two supports:
- I glued some packing paper onto a sheet of mixed media. I crumpled up some more packaging paper and glued it over top to give a textured surface. When it was dry, I painted a layer of gesso over.
- I painted a layer of gesso over a piece of thick cardboard.
Cardboard
Using one of my previous sketches, I drew an outline with the Pentel Sign pen.
I used soft pastels to block in and blended with my finger. When I blended the pastels, I lost quite a few of the under drawing lines, so I went over them with the Pentel sign pen to pick them out again. I particularly like the radiator. I bounced the pen over the cardboard to draw a soft line which give a bit of tone to the radiator as well as the colour.
Next I prepared two supports:
- I glued some packing paper onto a sheet of mixed media. I scrumpled up some more packaging paper and glued it over top to give a textured surface. When it was dry, I painted a layer of gesso over.
- I painted a layer of gesso over a piece of thick cardboard.
Crinkled paper 1
I used Derwent XL charcoal which is a lovely soft crumbly charcoal. It was good for covering large areas and I was able to blend it easily with my fingers. When I had completed blending, I lightly dragged the side of the charcoal over the surface and the raised ridges of the crinkled paper which picked up the charcoal.
Crinkled paper 2
This is a larger piece of paper so I did a larger drawing. I did this without looking at my sketches (and realised that I should have looked at the sketches because it’s not right!). I used oil pastels and white charcoal. First I drew in the sketch with a 2B graphite stick. I then worked into the crinkled paper with oil pastels. i overdrew with a 9B graphite stick to define lines that had been lost under the oil pastel. to finish off the drawing I ran the charcoal over the paper, with a bit more pressure than the previous drawing to get a bit more of the pigment onto the paper.
I did think when I started these experiments that my final drawing would be on the crinkled paper, but I don’t actually like the effect that I’ve created, but I do like working with gesso and charcoal, so that’s what I think I will take forward.
I don’t really like the drawing on the cardboard or the larger crinkled paper, but I do quiet like the smaller crinkled paper as the charcoal has a soft look about it and I like the areas where the paper has picked up the charcoal when I dragged it over the paper.
