Charcoal and cowboys

Cowboy
Charcoal on mi-tientes
copyright Jeanette Jobson

This was one of the images in the Weekend Drawing Event at WetCanvas. The pose and the face was irresistable and I hope to do a full portrait from the image at a later date.

I'm still using up my Mi-Tientes paper and am starting to enjoy some of the lighter colours - buff and gold, even if my preferences are for the darker browns and greys.

I use a mix of willow and vine charcoal as well as charcoal pencil for finer details. Depending on the effect (and how much time I have) I may blend some areas for smoother areas, but in this case I've left most of it fairly rough.

I keep thinking about making my own charcoal. There are always pieces of charred wood left over from fires used to burn off tree limbs and clear ground, but I haven't played with them much. Once the weather warms up, I think I'll try my hand at making some. I have about 20 willow trees ringing the perimeter of the garden as well as three grape vines in the greenhouse, so finding suitable material isn't a problem. Just not reducing it to ash is the challenge.

Meanwhile, here is a great tutorial on how to make your own charcoal for the adventurous!