The saga of the mountains continues.....

Second of the two classes devoted to the theme of mountains this afternoon. I had already done as much as I thought needed doing the first picture, although I have put the picture where I see it as I pass by so I may find something else needs doing. On the whole I am quite pleased with it.








I started a second picture working in graphite pencil on black board, a technique I learnt about via an article in American Artist by Sherry Camhy http://www.myamericanartist.com/2007/09/sherry-camhy-wh.html. Her pictures using this method can also be seen on her website http://sherrycamhy.com/drawings_on_black_1.htm. It is quite a slow process and I have still a fair way to go to build the different tones but I shall certainly use the technique again. I apologise for the quality of the image. Normally I scan images but it does not work with this type of painting as the surface changes with the light so I photographed it, again I had some problems. This is the best of about a dozen attempts!






To go for a hat trick I have started a third picture. In this one the lines outlining the shape of the mountain are actually text done with a 0.05 drawing pen......and it was NOT as fiddly as you might imagine. The text is about Mount Everest, the different names, geology and some of its history. There is also a reference to the fact that on 1st May 1999 they discovered Mallory's body which happened to be the same day that I took a flight over Everest. I can remember getting back to the hotel in Kathmandu and being asked by some wag whether I had seen the body. I used to have a T-shirt which had the motto "I have not climbed Mount Everest but I touched it with my heart." Seeing Everest and the Himalayas from the air was actually a very moving experience and I remember the silence in the plane on the flight back to Kathmandu so I guess the other passengers felt the same.
Still some way to go with this with many more layers of watercolour washes.