Spot the Difference

A first for me – drawing the same picture on two different papers; Pescia (left) and Velin BFK Rives (right). Here they are at undercoat stage.
I have not used my new paper, Velin BFK Rives, very much yet. After two drawings which succeeded, I fell off my horse (so to speak) with the one below.

Though I may have sounded gung ho in my post about chucking out the drawing “Joy” two weeks ago* the fact is I was winded by my fall and my confidence was bruised. You know what any riding instructor will say when her student falls off? “Get back onto your horse at once!”
I couldn’t do it straight away. I didn’t want to ride my new horse, Velin BFK Rives, any more. I wanted to go back to my dependable old horse, Pescia. I was curled up on the ground in misery. I have two pieces of my old Pescia paper left so decided to just go back and do a drawing on one of the pieces. I had had enough of messing with new papers. So I began. It felt so good, smooth and silky. Ahhh – that’s what I was used to. But using the Pescia didn’t make me happy: quite the reverse. I was drawing on my old Pescia and grieving at the same time – for this paper which I only had two pieces of. Gosh I was depressed. I was IN the comfort zone but it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, was it?!
Then I had the idea. I still needed to go forward. The BFK Rives was probably not at fault in my failed drawing “Joy”. It was a compositional problem. So rather than blaming the paper (the new horse), why not do this current drawing on Rives as well as Pescia? I will clearly see how both perform with the identical subject and I will surely learn something.
So this is what I am doing. After mapping in the under-colours on the two papers, I will complete the Rives drawing before working with the Pescia. Here is the way the Rives drawing looks so far…(still with most of the geisha to layer).

Work in progress on Velin BFK Rives (detail)
I am enjoying working on the Rives and I feel confident that I CAN work this paper. It will be fascinating to see the two completed drawings side by side. Will one be more intense than the other? Will I be able to get the depth of colour with one that I can achieve in the other? I will find out – and so will you.
I went right back to a very old photo as source material. I photographed the image in February 2005 on my old film camera. I drew it in the same year. The drawing has not been in my possession for at least six or seven years. I am not going to look at the photo of my 2005 drawing until I am finished this pair as I don’t want to be influenced by what I did back then. Finally, when I do check it out, I look forward to seeing if and how my pencil work has changed in a decade.
From feeling hopeless, I am now happy again, sitting astride my new horse and moving forward with her. “Trot on.”
* The Only Thing I Ever Got From You Was Sorrow is my post a fortnight ago about the failed drawing “Joy”.
Afterword: September 2015

The finished “Amethyst” on Velin BFK Rives. July 2015.

Version 2 of “Amethyst” on Magnani Pescia. September 2015.
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