Behind the scenes art blog- drawing tips and techniques

Like most artists, I am fascinated by light. This is one of the reasons the beautiful Saltwick Bay is one of my favourite landscapes. Just around the corner from my Whitby studio, it changes according to the weather and so is different every time I visit. As you cross the sands from the bay towards Black Nab, it turns to shale underfoot - which contains fossils and, rather surprisingly, the wreck of the Admiral Van Tromp. Her remains add a starkly beautiful element to the lan

One of my favourite places is Saltwick Bay - black rocks, golden fossils and the remains of the Admiral Von Tromp which ran aground in 1976. Every time I go, it looks completely different and so this is my second drawing of the landscape. I'm working on Fabriano Artistico extra white paper. It has a lovely smooth surface that takes great detail and being the whitest art paper available, contrasts the charcoal perfectly. I'm using a mixture of charcoal pencils for the detail a