I said I’d try some more with the recently learnt slow-wolf approach to using built-up layers of black and white charcoal as an approach to creating a more finished drawing. So I have. This one is . . . okay. I stopped before it was really done, as each time I set a layer with the fixative, it had started bringing up odd lines and marks from layers below. The fixative was likely either too thick, not thick enough, or the wrong one. Or something about this particular paper. One of those.
So, overall verdict: not super fond of the outcome and it’s not actually finished, but, meh, getting there, a bit, maybe. Rinse and repeat? I may try another time lapse once I work through all the kinks. And as for glasses, they are clearly a challenge I need to set myself more often *.
Also on my list of arty challenges, a friend recently gave me a giant box of pastels which had belonged to her grandmother. Hundreds of colours! I don’t know if I’m ready to draw in colour, but I suspect the layer/fixed/layer approach might work well with pastels too.
* Assume some wise words here about how the most learning comes from those tasks we loath and/or desperately avoid.
A Little Art 