A few years ago while tutoring an art holiday course I produced a drawing (right) using Derwent XL charcoal blocks. It was of a view that you see many times – a simple run of various trees and bushes with poppies in the foreground – and charcoal offered me the challenge to represent the shapes, energy and movement of each distinctive leaf, along with the counterchange of light and dark.
On reviewing the drawing, I saw the potential of making it into an interesting painting. In this article, therefore, I want to show you how to take an already successful drawing and develop it into an acrylic painting, focusing on individual mark making. A painting of this style, where making the right brushmarks is the prime
