Thistles in white pencil on black paper

Thistles, white pencil on black paper, A4, Vivien Blackburn


A couple of years ago when the thistles flowered, went to seed and became huge masses of the fluffy white 'fairies' they fascinated me. I did a large drawing at the time, closing in and working far above life size, digital images came out of the sketches, photographs and memories too.

This one is just out of my head from memories of the exploding fluffy masses of seeds, ready to fly. It was started in a cheap white pencil, emphasised in places to deepen the opacity of the white with Polychromos white and finally some marks to intensify the white even more with a chinagraph pencil (those waxy ones that write on glass).

The lightness on the bottom left is light leaking into the scanner - the paper is black

Comments

Unknown said…
This is a beautiful monochromatic study.
4:18 pm
vivien said…
Thanks Trevor - your b&w photography is beautiful :>)

And I admire some of the photographers you do, particularly Cartier Bresson for his wit and timing. I like Robert Doisneau too, I'm sure you know him.
4:41 pm
Robyn Sinclair said…
Vivien, that is beautiful. How clever of you to draw them on a black ground. I brought a small spray of some kind of fluffy seed pods back from my morning walk intending to try to draw them. Of course I haven't done it yet. I'm going to have to look at them through my butterfly binoculars though because the detail is so small.
5:14 pm
vivien said…
Butterfly binoculars? for close up looks at stuff? they sound brilliant
7:28 pm
annie said…
This is stunning, Vivien. Thanks for explaining the different whites you used. I remember that first in the series that you did but missed the second so glad to see them here.

I never heard of Butterfly binoculars, Robyn. Must be awesome what you see with them.

annie
8:58 pm
Billie Crain said…
Really eye catching, Vivien! It has a slight fantasy feel to it.
9:22 pm
Unknown said…
Beautiful.

It has a really ethereal quality to it.

Well done, Lynn
10:19 pm
Martha Marshall said…
I love these thistle images -- the new one and the others from your previous posts. Very delicate and beautiful.
12:13 pm
Jean Spitzer said…
Beautiful drawing and composition.
2:58 pm
Lunar Hine said…
Breathtaking
4:05 pm
Lindsay said…
I certainly have enjoyed catching up on your blog! This is magical! and I love the photos of the frost kissed leaves.Congratulations on the new addition to your family! Happy New Year!
1:38 pm
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