My Love of Vine Charcoal

When I was younger, I was never without this adorable little cow tin you see below. I found this during a trip to Switzerland back in high school.

See! I loved cows back then too!

It wasn't so much the tin, but what I kept inside of it. My vine charcoal, and a kneaded eraser. Oh my, vine charcoal is by far my favorite tool to work with. Everything just looks so good when you draw with it. It's so forgiving, and easily blended. Different amounts of pressure give you different results in color depth. You can go in with a kneaded eraser and add perfect highlights. It really is my favorite.

So it is sad to me, that I have let so many years go by without using it. I thought I had lost this tin box in our last move. When I was digging to the bottom of my portfolio case for pastels, I felt an odd buldge in a side pocket. I reached down in there and pulled out this tin - you would have thought I struck gold - seriously I was that excited. Poor Austin thought something really cool was going on. Nope, sorry buddy, just your goofy mom flipping over some charcoal.

And of course, as soon as I could (hello nap time!), I rushed outside to my favorite spot and started drawing everything I could see.



I'm a little rusty, it's been almost a decade since I picked up a piece of this stuff. But it felt soooo good. Something tells me this won't be the last charcoal post you see here.


Have a great day everyone!