Woman's Face (Detail of Ghost Drawing)

This image is cropped from one of the drawings in the sketchbook I came across recently. The sketchbook contains drawings from figure drawing sessions held at Porter Mill Studios a couple of years ago. So the other day I decided to photograph details of the faces, which are always challenging because they have to be done quickly because figure drawings are often timed. This drawing was done in a different style than the line drawings that I posted here yesterday and the day before. For this style, I use a graphite bar, holding it on its side. So I am drawing shapes instead of lines, often concentrating on negative space rather than positive space. For the face, I use the tip or corner edge of the graphite bar and make just a few marks to define the features. I started drawing this way in Lawrence, Kansas, and almost immediately started to call this style "ghost drawings" because the shapes are less defined than my line drawings, yet I have often been surprised at how much I was able to capture.