10 January 2015

More graphite travel lines

The first water-drawing on paper prepared with water-soluble graphite. I'm using 6B and this is grainy paper. The slight change in angle of the paper shows how "slippery" these are to photograph -
Haste and inattention during a change of trains left a disfiguring blob; vigorous application of the eraser left a dull greyness -
Below is graphite on bristol board (v.smooth), held parallel to the window so the light reflects ... you lose the shine in the photo, but do see the lines -
 Same piece, same situation, after erasure - the borders are what was left of the graphite after the masking tape was removed -
 I wonder if careful work with the eraser would make it look more interesting ... or is this idea a dead end? It's certainly a lot of work for very little effect -
The next one is virgin bristol board written on with the graphite stick, then re-traced with the water brush - a "there and back" journey -
Not very interesting, imho.

After watching a couple of videos on using water soluble graphite (here and here) I tried "...into wet" - make a puddle of water, eg when stopped at a station, then write through it till the next station; repeat as needed; no words -
That's a sample ... ripe for road testing. Nice fuzzy line, and the possibility of puddles, what's not to like?

Getting simplified, and with a "better" aesthetic.

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