New Work - Day 2

New Work - Day 2
Graphite on Bristol

Here, I have started to fill in the shading on the clothing using the side of my graphite lightly.  I will next use a pressed blending tool to smooth out the fabric.  I never touch the paper with my hands.  I lay clean paper over the area I have already worked to ensure that the oils from my hands don't get onto the paper.  If this does happen, it changes the way the paper accepts the graphite - making it very hard to get even coloration.  Though, I started out by smudging with my fingers - I haven't done that now for years.  This way is much cleaner, and the end product is much nicer.