The Seersucker Bucket

The Seersucker Bucket, graphite, 6 x 8", TMDD Series

While bucket hats do amuse--they are totally functional and not at all attractive--I wanted more from this gal.  I wanted her whole pose sitting on that bottom step her arms hugging her knees to her chest, her hands clasped, gazing out  at the sea, but I cut off her feet!  I was too slow minded to think turn the camera vertically, zoom out a bit,  focus, shoot and shoot again!    Head hunting is not an unskilled sport.  There's no room for total relaxation when hunting future subject matter!

The skill of drawing with pencil doesn't demand a lot of stuff that weigh down heavy satchels.  Here's my stuff when I get serious.  The drawing bridge--that paint stained ruler like item--is one that I made from a paint stir paddle simply by cutting off two sections from another paddle and gluing the pieces onto this one.  I made it for another series of smaller drawings. If my drawing had ever gotten larger, I'd make a larger bridge out of sturdier materials.

 On these quickies. I use a piece of vellum tracing paper under my palm. When it falls to the floor, I resort to cleaning up the smears with the knead. There's no time to bend down looking for it.  There's not a lot of formality--or stuff-- at six thirty in the AM in my drawing room sitting in front of the Sun Torch.  One pencil, maybe two, a knead, the General sharpener--and sometimes, like today, the smallest erasure template. Get serious about this drawing, and an accurately drawn reflection in the sunglasses become something to consider for more than a minute. Erasure Templates would be a must have.  While I have stubs--and they are on every drawing class supply list--I don't use them.  Smooth is not the texture I'm going for.  But I have used dirty ones to draw with.  The smudgy line has been useful for rendering fabric. As for the drafting brush, you don't knead it with a knead--but need any stronger erasing and  it becomes handy. Pieces of erasers, left where they fall, pick up graphite and  can really mess up a drawing.

These are the key things in my pencil box.  The stubs, the bridge and the brush are secondary.
I included them in the photo because they make the photo more interesting. :-))