Painting with Graphite

Last week my sister and I took a workshop titled Secrets of the Old Masters, held at the National Gallery in Ottawa. The show associated with it was "From Raphael to Caracci - The Art of Papal Rome" - an absolutely gorgeous exhibition of paintings and drawings that took your breath away. The workshop introduced us to some interesting techniques in drawing, including using paintbrushes to shade our graphite drawings. I fell in love with the technique.

Pictured above is the piece I did in the workshop, and below is my first try on my own. I've a lot to learn yet in manipulating the medium, but the results are well worth the work.

Now to find some models I can photograph so that I can continue to practice the techniques.....