Debbie Herd: SFUMATO DRAWINGS

I dragged out some of my old folios at the weekend to show Coen some of my drawings that he would not remember. I even found drawings that I had forgotten about. I have many large folio’s full of work and drawers full of large drawings as well. But they are all stored in the shed and I very seldom look through them. Maybe I should frame some of them, but then they are even more difficult to store. I have such a lot of un exhibited work maybe I can include some of it in my solo exhibition? I love sfumato drawings and have many. This one is done in ground pitt charcoal which gives better chiaroscuro to the drawing than using willow charcoal or ground graphite.

Most of the drawing was done using a tissue, a few hard drawn lines and I used a kneedable eraser to take some of the paper back to white. I really love doing them but I spent an entire year only working in black and white, so maybe I just had enough at the time. But I hope to spend some time soon working on some more. They would not be easy to weave; I wish I could blend colour in my tapestry as easily as I can with charcoal!