A Silverpoint Drawing a Day: The oxidation problem

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The oxidation problem

Note: while Jim & I have started to produce silverpoint drawings, they are currently in a difficult state to accurately scan & reproduce here, due to the time it takes for the silver traces on the page to oxidize, darken & turn a brownish hue. In the meantime, we'll build up a supply of pieces, I guess, & when they start to mature, they will start to appear here. Stay tuned...

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Conclusion: Looking back & looking forward

Here are just a few notes to give closure to this blog:

I'm not going to upload any more silverpoint drawings here for purchase. There are the 50 below, of which 48 are mine, & the other 2 are Jim Stevenson's. Unfortunately, Jim became very busy with other work, so was unable to go beyond the 2 promising silverpoints he created near the beginning.

I'll leave these drawings for sale here for as long as it makes sense. They will remain at their current prices. I also reserve the right to sell them privately, i.e. not via this blog. In that case, I'll put up a "sold" notice as soon as is feasibly possible.

It's been an interesting learning process. I only started using silverpoint around June of this year, so in less than 3 months, I've created a decent body of work. In addition to the 48 presented here, there are another 60 or so in my collection, some of the other ones can be seen on my own web site, & so on.

I've gone from using silverpoint on white ground, to tinted ground with white highlights, to finding variations of tinted ground that didn't really need the highlighting. I didn't get to try out liver of sulfur, which apparently darkens silver to black. That is still to be done. I also didn't get to try out other types of metalpoint; copperpoint, goldpoint, & so on.

In terms of drawing, silverpoint gives a very subtle line, which gives the artist more sensitivity of control, I have found, than other, similar media such as graphite pencil. I believe it allowed me to extend my lines and make them more sinuous & sensitive than before. The limited tonal range was also a benefit in some ways, as it made me focus on maximizing the available tones. Of course, silverpoint drawings tend not to be as dramatic as, say, ink drawings, due to their relative lack of contrast.

However, all in all, the use of silverpoint drawing, which I shall continue & extend, has been a positive, learning experience. I hope that this blog might help inspire others to take up its use.

While I shall not post further siverpoint drawings here, I may post news items - for example if I have shows of my silverpoints or related work. Also, I may add items to the links bar from time to time.

Thanks for visiting.
—William T. Ayton

A Silverpoint Drawing a Day

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The oxidation problem

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