Portraits — pencil drawing by Ray Patrick
Three graphite head studies of the same model lying on a table, all tipped back and lit from above, with a bound sketchbook open behind them.
The sheets overlap and run away from the viewer at a diagonal, so the nearest head is largest and the two behind diminish. Each study sits in its own panel of worked ground.
Graphite on white. The two further studies are pushed to a near-black ground; the nearest is kept open and light, built almost entirely from line.
The near study is hatched in fine parallel strokes that stay legible as line and never close into tone; the two behind are rubbed down smooth. The difference between them is the whole interest of the photograph.
Graphite on paper, three studies. A studio photograph of a group of drawings rather than a single picture.
No signature legible at this scale.