Liquid Charcoal

With classes and workshops finished for the year, it's time to get back to some exploring and experimenting.
First to come out of the cupboard which hoards my rarely used supplies is a tube of liquid charcoal.
It is water soluble and can be used just like watercolour as it flows and swims beautifully in water. It is very liftable which makes it ideal for my portrait practice as a half mm brushstroke of pigment in the wrong place will easily render the likeness not good so being able to easily add water and wash away and re apply in the right spot really helps.
It can easily be painted with added watercolour pigment but for my experimenting I have used it alone to first paint the portrait. When this was dry I added the sunflowers and coloured areas with watercolour pigment.

The Sun Will Shine Again