Black and White photography is an important influece in my work. I see black and white photographs in the same context as drawings in the same way colour photography can be analogous to paintings.
Paintings tend to be looked at as the "finished" article by some sectors of the public but I maintain that drawings, - finished drawings as opposed to sketches, - stand as finished works of art in their own right.
This example here, though not entirely monochrome, - there is some tinting of the tree trunk, - is called, not surprisingly, "Greenstem".
It is a study of the lower stem of a coniferous tree and presented in the way it would confront you were you to encounter it in the forest. In the drawing I have mainly used soft graphite (9B or 12B) and 6B for the finer lines. It is drawn on Fabriano textured paper 400gsm. I like this heavy paper for its texture and its ability to withstand being assaulted by me grinding in the graphite untill it becomes an integral part of the paper. Putty rubbers water spraying are other agencies brought into play for a work like this. The work measures 45 x 65 cm.