Usk. 23.04. 2010

I am pleased with most of this drawing , but there are always things that are not quite right and I get tempted to fiddle with. It started out as just a careful drawing using just a black pastel. I wanted to spend more time measuring and checking rather attacking it aggressively as I have been doing lately. After a while I decided to add colour but again I wanted to keep it to a few colours rather than go over the top. I used a light and dark tan chalk, a bluey grey conte' stick, a green conte' and a white chalk. I wanted to avoid detail especially on the face. If you go too detailed on the face the rest seems to have to follow. I didn't want definite edges and consciously worked over and outside the outlines. I assessed the colour and value I wanted and applied it patches or facets. I was trying to approach it in the same way as the still life studies I have been doing lately and was pleased when someone commented that it looked painterly. The end of the session came at the right time as I was just getting tempted into more detail. As I look at it I feel I want to work on the hands and do some more to the background but I know it would be a mistake.