Drawing: Women's Face in Profile - Pastel Chalk on Treated Paper

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Update: Check out Part 2 here, different technique using the same paper treatment!

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In this drawing i was trying something different.
Usually i like to make a mess and extract forms out of shadows and mass but i thought i'd try to control my lines and only draw what was necessary.

I used 3 colour General's pastel chalk - Black, White & Red.
I started with Daler Canford Paper - Dreadnought Grey which is a nice paper for pencil but it's not very forgiving.
If you make a mistake it can be difficult to erase without leaving a mark.

To over come this, i painted the paper first with a mixture of Shellac flakes thinned out with mineral spirits.
This changes the papers 'sizing' which means it creates a barrier between the paper and the medium - in this case the pastel chalk. It also changes the colour from the mid-tone grey to a nice olive tone.

The chalk then behaves a lot more like charcoal, very easy to lift and remove, very easy to make light strokes and build up into dark tones.

I'm still experimenting with changing a papers sizing, sometimes i've used too much shellac and it's like trying to draw on glass - impossible to leave a mark but it has been a good discovery and can turn OK paper into some quality surface for drawing on.

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CONTINUE: Check out Part 2 here, different technique using the same paper treatment!

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