[BAS Newsletter] Technical notes and final result of Colin's demonstration

[Adrian Fowle (BAS Chairman)]

Our demonstration last Friday turned out to be the most interactive we
have had yet - to the extent that Colin did not finish much of the
painting. There was a very interesting exchange of views on different
bits of kit. Many people contributed and most stayed until the end so I
hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I have attached a much
reduced and compressed version of the final work. We hope to have better
version on either his website or ours in due course. For the record, on
the day we only saw the twinkle in the right eye. To be fair to Colin,
we had a number of technical problems with the transmission which also
delayed us, despite the fact that Colin, Paul and myself had practised
without any problems. Paul has found the solution, we think, and I hope
we can try the two camera technique again. I did not keep any of the
recordings because of this.

Colin started by showing us a board of swatches of different "pencils"
to use a generic term, with their names and effects. He recommended it
as a means of getting familiar with the tools and being able to find the
right one. He clearly enjoyed soluble graphite pencils, although I don't
think he used them in the demonstration. There are several brands of
similar pencils:

https://www.pencils4artists.co.uk/lyra-rembrandt-watersoluble-graphite-singles-c2x15746707
https://www.pencils4artists.co.uk/derwent-watersoluble-graphitone-singles-c2x9513969
https://www.pencils4artists.co.uk/derwent-graphitint-pencils-tin-of-12-c2x9514060

For the portrait of Robert de Niro Colin used charcoal and related media
on a coloured background.  He used hotpressed Canson paper and painted a
watercolour background on it. He does not find it necessary to stretch
the paper, he merely tapes it down.

For detail he used Montmartre woodless charcoal pencils, which he says
are expensive
https://montmarte.net/product/view/signature-woodless-charcoal-pencils-3pce

White highlights, agains the black charcoal or the toned background,
using General Pencil Co White Charcoal
https://www.amazon.co.uk/General-Pencil-5582BP-Charcoal-Pencils/dp/B004BPOZAG

For larger areas of black he used Panpastel - he was using the black
from a set of colours that stacked, something like this
https://panpastel.com/sets-kits/starter-set-painting-5-color.html. He
had a hard sponge applicator to use with it. Alternatively he used
charcoal sticks, on their sides or charcoal power from Cretacolor
https://www.pencils4artists.co.uk/cretacolor-charcoal-artists-powder-c2x9514869.
Other people created their own powder with a grater or sandpaper, or
saved the erasings to re-use. [Your chairman is far too messy to
consider such a thing!]

These charcoals, and the erasers (see below) create dust on the surface
and Coin uses a little handheld vacuum clearer to such it up, in
preference to the traditional brush which can smudge.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tihoo-Portable-Tabletop-Vacuum-Cleaner/dp/B07GN9GKM3

We had had occasional interjections from the audience with suggested
pencils and so on, but when we turned to erasers and sharpeners everyone
was pitching in. I'm just going to recommend you read
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2020/03/23/comparing-manual-electric-pencil-sharpeners/. 
Personally I like the thought of a helical sharpener, but my first broke
(plastic case). I now have a metal one, but it is so heavy and stiff it
is meant to be screwed to a bench - otherwise it needs three hands.

I'm going to recommend another review for erasers. It you have not
watched anyone do it, it may not be apparent that they can be a creative
tool as well as something to remove errors. Of course it depends on what
you want to erase. See
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2016/07/29/choosing-a-rubber-comparing-erasers/

There was quite a lot more, but it was difficult to capture everyone's
favourites. Colin has agreed to come back next year for another
demonstration and maybe he will be allowed to complete it!


-- 
*Adrian Fowle
Chairman, Bromley Art Society*
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