Big charcoal drawings from the 1980's
When I was studying at the Hornsey College of Art in the early 1980’s, I devoted most of the second year of my degree course to practicing the discipline of drawing. I was developing my understanding of structure, line, tone, light and shadow, learning how these things could fundamentally underpin the physical aspects of image-making and painting.
Over time, some of the drawings became very large. I used charcoal, pastel and chalk for their fluidity, depth of tone and ability to cover large areas. I found lots of useful texture in the marks I could make. These were messy times. After a day in the studio, I would emerge looking like a coal miner. Not even my teeth would escape the charcoal dust.
I recently uncovered slides of some of the drawings from art college and some years thereafter and had them professionally scanned. It’s been illuminating to go back and look at these early drawings again. I’ve put a selection of them in this gallery.
