Charcoal is one of the first mediums used by man ever since the first cave dweller picked up a burnt stick and drew on the cave wall.

Charcoal has been my favorite medium because of how flexible it is, the tactile sensations of charcoal against paper, and the fact that you can get so much from so little.

I have used the medium to develop my art skills, starting with learning to render, continuing with getting proportions correct, and on to setting up good compositions that are my own and not those of another.

The first subject I used for my pictures was motion picture actors and actresses of the 1930's and 1940's. The studio photographers of the era knew how to shoot black & white and had a way of lighting their subjects that hasn't been duplicated since. There have been attempts since to match the results but these have generally failed because of not having the same film stocks, lighting instuments, or models who looked right for the era.

There was a certain glamour to the film stars of this time that the personalities simply don't have and I've found it fun to capture this essence in the celebrity drawings I've done. I enjoy those qualities of those stars despite how many of them might have been in their private lives.

My charcoal technique has changed since my first drawings. I've gone from an exclusive use of blending, modeling and trying to capture all nuances of a photograph to letting the charcoal medium show in the piece and letting there be a tension between the raw charcoal areas and the finely blended areas.

I've also have tried to extend the range of my subjects. Within the subject of movie celebrities, I've done more men. Men have their own special characteristics that bring interest to a drawing and can present their own special challenges in accurate portrayal.