Dexter Cattle on Tadley Common, Lunchtime sketch

Can you see the Dexter cattle?
…Neither could I, when I started this sketch. They were hiding under the trees. Being black, they are quite good at hiding in the shadows. But then I caught sight of one of them when the sunlight caught its back. It didn’t take me long to decide that they should be included in the picture I was making.

I decided to leave the oil pastels at home today in favour of a matchbox’s worth of Conté “sketching crayons” (I’ve always called them “hard pastels”, but that’s not what it says on the box). As you might imagine, there aren’t very many sticks in a matchbox. Four, to be precise – white, black, dark brown (burnt umber, at a guess) and a reddish brown that looks rather like burnt sienna. No green. So I used green paper (Daler Rowney’s Murano pastel paper, if you’re interested). And the blue of the sky will just have to be imaginary.

12 x 9”, Conté on paper