"Kashtan", 2025
Charcoal on cotton, 24x18
Collection of the artist
Open Division Champion, 1st Place (Open)- Charcoal - Alaska State Fair 2025
Charcoal on cotton, 24x18
Collection of the artist
Open Division Champion, 1st Place (Open)- Charcoal - Alaska State Fair 2025
A portrait of my dog, Kashtan, looking regal on the couch. I created this as an entry for the Alaska State Fair 2025, and it won not only first place in Charcoal, but Champion of the Open Division!
I love the drama of charcoal, but i's such a fussy medium! Breathe wrong and you lose it. Imagine my thrill when I finally completed this piece with a week to go--only to destroy it with a "archival, charcoal specific" fixative (spoiler, it wasn't) I reworked the entire piece after essentially having melted it into a hazy shadow. The edges, form, and texture came through again, but I lost much of the warm umber of the toned cotton paper.
I suppose I should not expect such a dramatic medium to not be a diva!
I love the drama of charcoal, but i's such a fussy medium! Breathe wrong and you lose it. Imagine my thrill when I finally completed this piece with a week to go--only to destroy it with a "archival, charcoal specific" fixative (spoiler, it wasn't) I reworked the entire piece after essentially having melted it into a hazy shadow. The edges, form, and texture came through again, but I lost much of the warm umber of the toned cotton paper.
I suppose I should not expect such a dramatic medium to not be a diva!
