Charcoal
Willow or vine charcoal is an incinerated branch of a willow tree. It is completely impermanent (until fixed) and yet capable of the softest textures, sharpest lines, and the blackest velvety black. It is as much like painting in oils as anything I have ever used in terms of its workability. It comes and goes as I am working, and is so fragile that it begins to disintegrate into the air with a slight brush of a chamois cloth, or a direct breath. Drawn on Arches paper and sizes range from 16”x 24” to 32”x 40”.
