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Schmincke Liquid charcoal

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P1080764

Carol .

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After viewing George Cutter's, Lynmouth Harbour, using Cherry Pit black liquid charcoal, I liked the effect and have purchased the same brand. I also liked the bluish tint of the Grape seed black. I've gone the whole hog and bought some nice Fabriano sketching paper to practice on. I'll post my thoughts on both products, here.

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by Carol Jones

P1080764

Carol .

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Well, I've left the Fabriano pad to one side for now, lovely light texture for pencils but not for the liquid stuff, I did try it but it's not going to work. I've used instead The Langton Daler Rowney rough watercolour paper 140lb - 20x16 for this. The liquid charcoal has a grainy feel when dry, it's nice to use, however, it will take further use to get better results. I drew in the bramble flowers from my own photo, as I wanted an image when they were past their best. Did the background wash first then started to add detail. This is as far as I got yesterday evening. Will start some leafy work later on. Will keep this work as loose as I can.

Edited
by Carol .

With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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As you've discovered, 120gsm  is too light a paper to accept washes  - fine for dry charcoal though.  As well as the watercolour paper,   there are some heavy duty cartridge papers available - I'm sure you know this anyway -  there's a particularly good Daler -Rowney pad  which should work well with liquid charcoal, as it does with light watercolour washes.  The Langton,  of course, is a lovely, accommodating paper, suitable for almost anything  - after initially struggling with it,  I got used to it and used it compulsively for a while.   I too bought the Schminke liquid charcoal - you're right about the grainy feel when dry - I'm not too impressed by results I've achieved  with it so far, but  I think that's my customary slowness to get accustomed to anything new; plus the Stillman and Birn paper might not have been ideal ..... think it was me, though, it works fine for everything else.   Your bramble is a lot better than my effort - think  I'll work back into it with dry charcoal.
P1080764

Carol .

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I'm sure the heavy duty cartridge paper would work well, but I didn't want to risk another fail, as the price of not only good art materials but the paper is getting ridiculous.  Your suggestion of working back into work with dry charcoal is something to consider, a top tip. I watched a German artist a Mr. Schmitt using this medium, a fancy teapot, he then fixed the painting and glazed it over with a yellow oil, way out of my league, but an impressive result. Something to try in the distant future. Maybe. Will you post your re-work, Robert?  
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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I'll see if I can - I've got quite nervous about trying to scan and post to the Forum; don't have problems with the gallery, so if all else fails I'll put it on there.  It's only a small drawing, but I think it's better than it was. 
P1080764

Carol .

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Haven't seen any work from you for a while. Go for it, Robert.
Entwined, abstract

Sandra Kennedy

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Yes, go for it!