November 21, 2023

The possibilities in a pencil

I’m not sure there’s a more useful, cheap, and versatile tool than a pencil.

I, and I assume like many others out there trawling social media, love to see the materials that other artists use and how they use them. I see someone painting with gouache and think, “ooh, that looks fun” and then I go down a rabbit hole of trying to use gouache for a while. The same thought process occurs when I see lino printing, watercolour, ink, soft pastels, wax crayons, coloured pencils and so on.

Yet, no matter what I buy, and how often I play, I find myself returning to the pencil. That small, humble, 50c stick of graphite and some cartridge paper has the ability to create worlds. There is no other material that produces something so quickly, so easily and without the feeling of committment. If I’m searching for a beginning in the uncertainty of an empty page, the pencil will be the tool that will help me find it. It reduces the number of decisions one needs to make in the mark-making process and yet its possibilities for putting life on a page (and just as quickly removing it) are infinite.

It may seem boring but the possibilities in a pencil can be, have been, life-changing.

Other observations
November 19, 2024

The preparation ritual

Can a piece of paper create more connection than a wifi-enabled digital device when it comes to art?

November 12, 2024

The other side of loss is opportunity

Loss is difficult; we often like what we had more than what we may have. But how do we know unless we make space for the new in our lives?

November 5, 2024

Consistent or resistant

Is my aversion to change about my wanting to be consistent? Or, am I actually being resistant and am I losing something because of that?

October 22, 2024

Critically unacclaimed

What do reviews really tell us about the work? Does it matter who’s reviewing?

View all