Wanderlust 2023 - Weeks nine to fifteen - Pencils

The Wanderlust course feels as though it is going very fast this year.  The focus for the next seven weeks was pencils. Above was an introduction to pencils in their many forms - graphite, watersoluble (like Stabilo Woodys or  Caran D'AcheNecolour II), watercolour, charcoal, crayons...

Week ten was focused on people. We had to paint the page,  then see the faces and characters and bring them out with pencil details.  We also had to include hands even if they looked weird (and they do!).  Chris made up quite a story about these figures.  I 'saw' the small person first, then the one on the left and the floating face.  I thought I had finished but the face on the right demanded to be included.  He looks a bit like a Disney character to me, but I added him in.

Asemic writing (which looks like writing but doesn't mean anything) was the next focus. I wrote about the week I had at work on the section at the bottom right, but then reversed the tracing paper to stick it down, so it isn't that easy to read. 

More layering and botanicals for week twelve.  I enjoyed the splodges on the right hand side where we drew the wispy bits out. 

Charcoal portraits were the next focus.  I do enjoy using charcoal.  We then used water or oil to add shading.

We should have added a selfie to this page but as I have an aversion to seeing myself in a photo, I passed on that one.  This didn't really grab me - some weeks are like that.

Using Derwent Intense pencils four ways: dry, as paint, mixed on the page and then dipped in water made for an enjoyable amount of playing for the final pencils week.  I do like the Derwent Inktense pencils - very pigmented, easy to use and versatile - my new favourite pencils! 

The final week was the 'Artful Musings' week where an art practitioner talks about what they do.  The trusty Derwent Inktense pencils came out again, to be used like watercolours for this page, which is loosely based on the water cycle.  It included lots of mark making, using the pencils wet and dry and with various brushes used like stamps.

As always, there has been lots of experimenting and some weeks are more enjoyable than others, but I have a go at them all.  Our next media to explore is Pens - I am looking forward to that!