Charcoal drawing on gesso

This drawing is 20" X 26". It was done on 140 lb watercolor paper that was painted with tinted gesso. I used burnt sienna acrylic paint to tint the gesso and the concentration of color is stronger on the bottom half of the picture so that it fades to a lighter value on the top half.

Along with black charcoal sticks and pencils I used white "charcoal" pencils and some conte and pastel.

The image is made up. I started with the strong dark foreground and trees and added the farther horizon line of trees second and went back and forth to work on each section. Once in a while I glanced at the trees outside my studio to get ideas for shapes of branches.

At one point I sprayed the drawing with polyurethane to fix it so that I could coat it with acrylic gel medium as I do with my painting/collages. I felt that deadened it, however. So I went back and retouched parts of it to add highlights and try to bring it back to life.

Want to try some more drawings with added texture and more manipulation of the surface... I'll keep you posted.