Silverpoint Drawing
7×5″ gray-green prepared paper
When I began to work in silverpoint, way back in the ’80s, I selected familiar portraits from the Renaissance period and practiced my technique by copying them. (Silverpoint is a Renaissance-era drawing medium that predates the pencil. A silver wire is inserted in a wooden or metal holder and used as a drawing instrument. The silver lines will gradually tarnish to a warm sepia tone.) I still enjoy the practice of copying from the masters and drawing from my large collection of shells, skulls and many natural objects.
While drawing from DaVinci’s painting of Mona Lisa I saw that there are many “lifts” in the face: along the eyes, forehead, corners of the mouth, cheeks. The more you look, the more you see. Each time I draw this face, the seeing goes a little deeper.
I prepared the paper with a pale gray-green tone and used white charcoal for highlights. To learn more about silverpoint please visit My Website.
Please email me if you are interested in this drawing.