South Mountain Rock Sketch
This sketch started with photo roulette. You begin to scroll through your photo stream quickly and then randomly stop on a photo - whatever image you stop on is what you draw. Admittedly, I take many pictures of things I want to draw, so this activity often works in my favor. I landed on a rock formation that I noticed while mountain biking at South Mountain Regional Park. The sun rose and cast a very dark shadow on a rock that looked like it had been placed vertically. That contrast of dark shadow, the morning light, and unusual placement were enough for me to stop and take the photo.
I used a Kunst & Papier Sketchbook for the pencil drawing. I wanted to draw fast because it was early morning, about 5:30 am, and I wanted to get a quick sketch in before my daughter woke up. Usually, when I know I have to sketch quickly, I use a pencil because I am comfortable with it. I used the Kunst & Papier sketchbook because a pencil is really the only tool you can use in them because the paper is 100 gsm, and everything bleeds through. I love the sketchbooks, though, for their simple hardcover and subtle nod to color on the spines. My local art store carries them now, but I have purchased them through SOHO Art Materials in Manhattan, not to be confused with the SoHo Urban Artist brand. SOHO Art Materials has terrific brands, and the people are friendly! Kunst & Papier also have sketchbooks with heavier paper - as an FYI.
I sketched with the Blackwing 811 pencil. The 811 is a fantastic pencil designed as an homage to libraries. The green paint glows in the dark and pays tribute to the old green lamps that used to fill libraries. The number 811 refers to the American poetry section of the Dewey Decimal System - nice touch, Blackwing! The core is firm graphite, but Blackwing's firm is relatively soft and has a nice dark finish. The eraser on this pencil could be better – it has become dry, hard, and unusable. I will be replacing it. I did use two other erasers on this sketch: the Prismacolor Art Gum Eraser and the Tombow Mono Zero Eraser.
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This sketch started with photo roulette. You begin to scroll through your photo stream quickly and then randomly stop on a photo - and that’s what you draw.