Description
Both this and Dales Landscape 2 were made in my studio from sketches and photographs I took while walking in the Yorkshire Dales around Malham Cove. The process I used was, in effect, drawing in reverse.
I first cover a high quality paper with three or four layers of very dense graphite. I then begin erasing, gradually removing the graphite and work my way back to the white of the paper. The paper has to be good in order to resist the constant rubbing out.
I can’t make many of these because the process creates a lot of graphite dust and I am wary of breathing too much of it. I used this same technique for the drawing Rouen Cathedral in the Rain and the drawing London. They are both on this website. This technique lends itself well to depicting a scarred rock face. The main feeling in this particular part of Malham Cove is of being in an interior rather than in the open countryside. That’s what I wanted to convey to the viewer.
