I finally broke down and bought a box of willow charcoal today. This is my first charcoal sketch (well, my first one in 22 years). Between illnesses, a heavy work schedule, a bunch of home projects, opening day (woot!) and some good-ol-fashion laziness, this is my first sketch at all in several weeks (unless you count some sketches I did as part of the planning phase of those home projects).

The weather in Chicago has not been cooperative, either. I keep telling myself, “if it’s nice tomorrow, I’ll get outside and draw.” And then the next day is cold, windy, rainy, snowy, or all of the above. I know this is what ‘Everyday Matters’ is all about, but I’m not afraid to tell you, I’m getting real tired of drawing the stuff sitting around my home.

That said, I can’t tell you what a pleasure it was to draw with a burnt tree. The charcoal is nice and dark, and smudgy and splotchy and, well, almost paint-like the way I can push it around on the page. As far as a rendering, this is most definitely not my most accurate work. But I felt like I was really able to connect with the sketch in ways I haven’t felt up to this point. I will definitely be doing more charcoal sketches; I just need to figure out a way to not get charcoal dust all over the house.