Trying out Daler Rowney willow charcoal

The charcoal sketching as below is a small "Study work" that I created recently to check out a
new "Paper" and a new set of willow charcoal set from "Daler Rowney". I purchased the set
with medium sized willow charcoal sticks. My present brand which is from China is fairly good
but it smudges a lot and is too smooth on the paper.

Since I was going to try out a new charcoal tool I also remembered having purchased a set of
Brustro Drawing and Sketching papers during "SALE" which was lying unused in my
cupboard. Therefore I used this new paper, Daler Rowney charcoal accompanied by charcoal
powder and my regular Charcoal pencil to create this simple beach scene from Bamboo island,
Thailand.

In conclusion, I enjoyed using this new brand of willow charcoal. It is coarse, does not smudge
heavily, creates bold strokes and is definitely helpful to create initial study works to understand
the value gradation in a scene.

Charcoal sketching on Brustro drawing and sketching paper

Size 4.5" X 5.5"

Daler Rowney Medium sized willow charcoal sticks

The willow charcoal can be used to create many different types of strokes as can be seen from the

image below. I personally like the charcoal medium a lot and therefore adding on new products in

my list of tools is always a welcome change.

A small piece of Daler Rowney willow charcoal and 

some strokes that can be created by using it.

Brustro Drawing and Sketching pad

The Brustro Sketching and drawing paper is from Italy. It is a 200 gsm acid free paper and I have 

loved the overall effect of charcoal on this paper. I am definitely going to try out a few more

sketches on this paper. It is available on Amazon.

Beautiful quote.

"Talent is cheap: dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life." Irving Stone

Forest sketching on toned paper

Working on a toned paper gives me an opportunity to explore, experiment and get a better
understanding of the values in a particular scene.

In the sketching as below, the beige colour of the paper became my mid value background
for this forest scene. For the dark values in the trees and foliage area I have used different
charcoal pencils. The lighter values are created using white pastel pencils. I have also used
white soft pastel chalk in the sky towards the end.

This is my first landscape forest sketching on toned paper. The choice of paper is a very
important decision for me as it affects the outcome of my painting. I have used Canson Mi
Teintes paper ( It comes in many different colours )

Since it is my first such work on toned paper, I just did the basics and did not get into too
many details. For my next similar work I will try and select a simple composition but I do want
to try again as this has been a lot of fun.

The pathway in the forest

charcoal and white pastel pencil sketching on Canson paper

Size 6" X 7.5"

"Painting is very easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do." Edgar Degas

My next painting in progress is in charcoal medium and the subject is " Maya Bay" from 

Phi Phi Leh. It is an exceptionally beautiful bay surrounded by 100 metre high cliffs on three

sides.