For years -- many years before I picked up a palette knife -- I did nothing but draw with graphite or charcoal. With drawing, there's no waiting for layers to dry, no gobs of paint and wax stuck to my shoes or my hair. It seems more direct, more immediate, more simple somehow. This particular drawing does have a twist, though, as it was drawn in silverpoint. That technique is a little more complicated. First you lay down a special “ground”, and when it dries, you make your marks using a stylus that holds a thick wire made of silver. The hard part is, there is no erasing. Whatever marks you make are there to stay. The range of values is limited, but I love the inner glow of the final result. And after a few years, the silver will oxidize and the marks will take on the coppery hue you see in renaissance drawings.