Self Portrait

Untitled, graphite on black paper, 18x24" NFS

I saw an article about a young female artist who started working with graphite on dark papers especially black tones. Graphite acts inversely on black paper with the thicker layers appearing as bright highlights and the paper itself acting as the darkest hue. The neat quality to this approach is that if the lights aren't set just right it actually appears to be an empty sheet of paper. However, take a few steps in one direction and BAM - the art magically materializes! I haven't sprayed this piece with fixative yet because I am afraid of the effect it might have on the metallic highlights of the graphite. I plan on doing more drawings in this style just for fun. Tell me if you like this or not -JK