Jo is an experienced artist with her own teaching school.  She was a lively and amusing demonstrator, who took us into her confidence by admitting she had mistakingly not brought the source image with her.  She therefore had to use the photo from her phone - but she managed admirably! 

 

Jo used ordinary grey sugar paper for her charcoal portrait.  She had a selection of well-sharpened willow charcoal sticks, charcoal pencils and white Conte pencil, plus paper 'smudgers', kneadable erasers and a pen-type fine eraser.

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She started by outlining the shape of the head and hair in soft charcoal stick, indicating the forehead from the hairline to the eyebrows.  This was done with a very light touch, so that any errors can be easily adjusted.  Features were placed, Jo constantly checking the relationship of each in terms of proportion and angle.  She suggested looking for the 'negative spaces', for example between the eye and the eyebrow.

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While working on the eyes, Jo gave us this little nugget of information - the word 'pupil' comes from the Latin pupilla meaning 'little doll', as we see a reflection of a little person when we look into someone's eyes!

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She used the charcoal pencil for strengthening detail and white Conte for highlights, which she put in generously to begin with, but lightly, so it could be rubbed out where necessary.  She likes to use the paper smudgers especially when they are dirty, for adding 'low lights' or light shading.

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Jo blocked in the hair, using the side of the charcoal and she said to try and see it in terms of light and dark, rather than individual hairs.  She recommended drawing upright, rather than flat, so that the image is not distorted.  Jo likes to work in a clockwise or anti-clockwise order around the portratit, which helps the measuring against previous features, rather than going from side to side.  Jo was very determined to get the first eye perfect, spending a lot of time on this one detail.  It was fascinating watching this one artist's working methods.

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