Enzie: I have not tried Sauce, but I am interested. I will get round to it eventually.

Beth: He is a very well behaved dog! His whole body wags when he sees you. :)

Jean: I have heard that charcoal has a limited value range - something like six values. I have always been able to coax more value distinction out of my charcoal than that, so I am not sure how accurate it is. This is just straight charcoal, no pastel white added. The brushes certainly do help to express the values as you lay in the charcoal and then brush it/scrub it to blend and establish the value - too light and I add more charcoal, too dark and I hit the area with my kneeded eraser and brush/scrub again.

All three
 

Michael, skill, ground, and bristles, this must add up to talent.

Jean

Well Jean that is a lovely compliment and I thank you. :)

I have always believed that talent is simply the spark that gets you started down a path and talent is what keeps you on the path when things get hard. The rest is just hard work and dedication.

I'm curious. Is the marble dust necessary in the first step? You end up sanding it smooth anyway, so why not just use the dust in the final stages?

Since my primary interest is in drawing (for now), this has gotten my attention. I haven't been happy drawing on sketch pad paper.

More questions:

What ratio of marble dust to gesso do you use?

Where can I buy marble dust? I've located it online,but I'd like to pick it up locally. Is it a hardware store item, or strictly an art supply? We have no art supply stores in my town, and I want to avoid driving 30 miles to look for it.

Is there a suitable substitute?

Jeff:

Marble dust (Calcuim Carbonate) is only one of several additives you can add to give the board texture - things like silica sand (ashtray sand) are good too and give the board quite a bit of tooth.

You can find marble dust online at Pearl, Daniel Smith and other places.

I use it throughout because the addition of marble dust to acrylic gesso makes a kind of hydra-stone - it is very hard. I like to scratch and carve into my board sometimes for things like highlights and hair so I use it throughout because plain gesso in the underlayers would not hold up as well and I would be afraid of scratching through to the board surface.

As to formula, I go by the golden mean - 1 part marble dust to 1.6 parts gesso. It can be a bit of a pain to mix, so do it in a largish bucket and get a paint mixing hook for your electric drill. Mix up a big batch and put it into a bucket. Always use professional grade gesso.

Also, I don't like the Fredericks dust - it is too fine for my taste.

Michael,

What a wonderful portrait, very strong and sensitive. Congratulations on an excellent piece.

I'm printing out your instructions and stealing, er, borrowing your technique. I've been doing lots of work in charcoal lately and I want to explore non-paper grounds. Thanks for sharing your methods with us.

My advice for using sauce is to wear a biohazard suit before you begin. (I must be a lot messier than Peggy Baumgaertner.)

Linda:

Thanks for your post. I too understand that sauce can be quite messy. I really must try it sometime. :)

I really enjoy this surface for doing charcoal on. It really allows you a lot of room to dance and with the ability to scrape, sand, and erase, you can really hone in and get some good detail. I hope it works well for you too.

Very nice drawing, Michael. I enjoy it when the pros post work in various mediums.... as I'm sure the clients appreciate the different price points in this art of portraiture.

I think the reason everyone keeps getting back to sauce is that it seems to be what charcoal aspires to be, at least in terms of rich, dense darks, and in variety of application. In other words, it's so versatile and painterly: you can apply it dry with a ponce pad, or work wet with bristle brushes, or lift off with an ink eraser, or even use the sticks like pastels.

On another forum, another artist pointed out that various mediums can be utilized in a sauce-like manner. For example, Scott Burdick grinds conte crayon, sometimes charcoal, and sometimes perhaps other mediums, I don't recall, and the powdered form gives him a very "sauce-like" variety of application. Here's a link for anyone interested in his "sauce-like" application.

Here's another, where it looks like conte was ground up and applied in various ways.

Mari:

Well, I will indeed have to try sauce out sometime. Thanks for the link - very interesting stuff. :)

Charcoal Painting
 

This is so fine I would call it a charcoal painting!