Context: Personal artwork created using willow charcoal, compressed charcoal, kneaded eraser and hake brush. 

One of my favourite styles of drawing is reductive charcoal. The picture comes together by adding dark areas and subtracting light areas from a charcoal background. As I sketch with the charcoal and eraser, I also take passes across the page with a hake brush, removing some of the charcoal and 'erasing' most of my progress. I love this exercise, as it forces me to be looser with the work and provides many opportunities to adjust my drawing as I go. As I sometimes feel my artwork is too illustrative or technical, working in charcoal allows me to find a happy medium where my subject is straightforward and expressive.