Seascape 1

I think you should do a lot more like this - it's huge fun and you have a feel for it. Have you ever tried conté crayon? It's a hard pastel, available in several grades - and there are many others, in grades of black, grey, whites, and then into sepia, sanguine, bistre etc. You'd enjoy them, I think, especially on tinted paper: in fact, paper influences drawing more than almost anything else (although all too few tutors will tell you that, because they just forget what it's like to be starting out). And you can spray a drawing like this with a fixative (or just hairspray when you're starting out) and work into it again: it's wonderful!) Then try carbon pencils, from Wolff or Conté .... a whole world lies ahead of you. And mix water with charcoal, conté crayon, carbon pencil - work into it with cotton buds, colour shapers, fingernails, cotton wool, brushes - I get a bit carried away here, I know! But the possibilities in just black and white on paper are endless - and that's before you discover ink - in pens, brushes, cocktail sticks....... And the best of all is, it's cheap - sticks of black chalk, in whatever form, cost next to damn' all: even coloured sticks cost hardly anything. All you need is a bit of water (or spit) a reasonably tough paper, and a bit of imagination. It's the best fun you can have at my age.... which may be tragic, but ... hay: there are compensations in life after all.

Thank you so very much, that means an awful lot to me, especially as a beginner! It's also one of the most helpful comments I've had for helping me to improve. So many things to try next!! I'm grinning just thinking about it all - which is cool as I've started this as art therapy following meningitis. I think I'm definitely going to be doing more like this, I loved doing it and have been smiling all day every time I look at it hehehe. Thanks for the tip about the hairspray as well, that's what I've been using for the moment, but wasn't sure if it was ok to be doing that or not. Think I'll definitely be getting some of those conte crayons too. Thank you so very much for taking the time to comment on this, it means so much to me!