Trois Crayon and Papers

More on the use of Trois Crayon as I said in the earlier post the paper used can be a mid-tone grey, blue, or tan. The paper can either be purchased, most paper companies produce toned papers such as Fabriano Tiziano or Ingres Paper. Canson Mi-teintes is another range of suitable paper.

It is also possible to use a watercolour wash applied to any good quality drawing paper.

Yet another ploy is to use Acrylic Colours to tone Acrylic Gesso which can then be used to paint over old drawings you are not happy with, this gives you a new drawing surface that takes charcoal and chalk well and you are not restricted to the colours the manufacturers supply.

This is a drawing done from life at the Tenby portrait group using a watercolour wash on cheep drawing paper, charcoal, white chalk and lump Sanguine.





There is so much to learn from any Hans Holbein drawing so here is Sir Thomas Elyot for you to peruse.
Sir Thomas was a supporter of the education of women, a radical humanists idea in sixteenth century England.

Thoughts with the blood one.

Recently I posted a Trois Crayon drawing of Helen of Wales, Trois Crayon is a traditional drawing technique using three coloured chalks: red (sanguine), black, and white. The paper used is a mid-tone and can be grey, blue, or tan. The temperature of the sanguine is very important and must be matched to the cool or warm colour of the paper. Conte make three distinct sanguine’s so you can match them to the plethora of papers available. Also Cornelissen sell genuine lump sanguine.
When trois crayon is mentioned usually the French painter Antoine Watteau comes to mind. He loved drawing with sanguine thinking of his drawings as “pensees a la sanguine” = thoughts with the blood one.

Helen of Wales.

Jumping forward to the present, here is my current effort which shows my understanding at the moment.

Helen of Wales.

This was done from life with the Tenby portrait group and is my exploration of Trois Crayon using sanguine, white and sepia Conte crayons on a blue gray paper. The big problem with the drawing is the perspective of the face which I didn’t notice until it was to late. A blank piece of paper is always so exciting as there is always the possibility that things will turn out well!