Gabrielle Nowicki - 2016. Rock (2) - Graphite on 12″ x 9″  Paper By my drawing tabl

Gabrielle Nowicki - 2016. Rock (2) - Graphite on 12″ x 9″  Paper

By my drawing table, I’ve got an old, wooden 6 quart basket filled with rocks from a walk on my local beach along Lake Erie. I chose a rock from the basket and used it as a starting point for this drawing. It’s incredible how the surface of the paper and different grades of graphite can be worked until it seems, magically, a rock like surface appears. 

It’s not so much a realistic “rendering” as it is “drawing” in the verbal sense, using media that is well matched to the subject matter. Close up, the drawn surface even looks rock-like. I’ve included a detail image, to show the texture as well as how the graphite reacts to scratches and pits that I’ve inscribed into the paper’s surface