Drawing in the park with a graphite

The Story

Today I was feeling minimaliste. I wanted to capture the strong shadows of the summer at a glimpse. So I decided to park my japanese Pilot Falcon and Kuretake and, instead, I took a graphite with me, like this one:

This simple drawing tool offers great qualities: You can have a smooth and delicate stroke if your pressure is minimal, and get strong and dark shadows blocks with higher pressure.
Leonardo Da Vinci (to whom I will dedicate some posts in the next weeeks) used to say in the trattato di la pittura that the best hour to capture the nature is either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. At those moments, the sun is oblique to the earth and this fact produces strong and dark shadows, suitable for a light & shadow drawing. Unfortunately, sun goes down very quick so you have to work fast and dive into the nature mood without hesitation. Graphite is the perfect option to this kind of lighting.

working in process

Da Vinci also said that a painter must not copy from another painter who copies directly from nature, because, he then became grandson of the nature instead of son of the nature. This sentence always makes me laugh a lot. He will receive an unusual visit soon (stay tuned to this account..)

Finaly I reinterpret some people who where having french apero, that is a couple of bottles of Bordeaux, and I turned them into one of my preferred characters: Mr Gazpacho and a pupil.