My Messy Relationship With Charcoal (An Artists Story)

I've been drawing. For decades.

Mountains of sketchbooks filled, usb drives crammed with old digital paintings, loose papers sitting idly in dark musty crates slowly becoming habitats for silverfish.

Always experimental, never sticking to one medium, I always looked forwards to trying something new. Except charcoal.

I didn't "get" charcoal, but it got all over me. When I tried to use it the results were always messy, unruly and completely unpredictable. I could never get it to do what I wanted, and after a brief phase in college experimenting with it I left it mostly untouched for pretty much a decade, until now.

When I tried using compressed charcoal on glossy paper, something clicked. The charcoal glided across the paper and smeared at the lightest touch. Usually I'd just grumble at this, but that day was different. What If I pushed charcoal with my fingers? what If I used the extreme blending to my advantage? As soon as I got my fingers dirty, something magic began to happen.

All the sudden it seemed like my years of painting experience were applicable to drawing. I could essentially "paint" with charcoal on my fingertips and create blending effects I had only dreamed in dry media, and it was extremely fast!

This new way to draw filled me with enthusiasm for drawing again. hours passed by without me even noticing, subjects that were well trodden seemed brand new, and I began to appreciate for the first time in awhile how transformative and rewarding taking risks and truly experimenting with technique and style can be.

I'm not sure if there's a takeaway from all this. Maybe I'm just excited and wanted to share some new drawings I've been making. But I think the lesson here may be more broad. When you take chances and challenge yourself to grow and try something new, whether that be with art, technology or your inner life, the benefits you reap can be truly great! -C

Here's a final drawing I'd like to leave you with, finished just last week. All of these were done between 15 and 25 mins. from a live model.

p.s. my hands still get incredibly messy from working in charcoal. But it's so much fun now I barely notice.