The Art of the Conté Drawing

Hello m'lovies.

How have you been? I'm going to start a  products review series of posts, as I think it's important we know what we use. Knowledge is power, or so I've been told (lol).

Conté is a type of drawing chalk, packaged in France in the 1700s by a man called Joseph Conte but artists have been using it since the time of the Renaissance (Michaelangelo, Da Vinci and co all used it to draw). For me, it's a lot better than a Graphite pencil, it has nice colours and is smooth to use. They are a lot like pastels but harder and because the name "Conté" is trademarked.a lot of companies call them "compressed pastel". It has just gotten popular here in Nigeria though.

Thomas Wilmer Dewing, before 1926

Michaelangelo, 1550s

Susan Lyon, 2014

I reviewed a few brands I got recently in Lagos. They are the General's compressed pastel sticks, Conté a Paris (the original brand) and Rembrandt Carre Crayons.

swatches of the colours and brands I have

From top to bottom: Rembrandt, Conte a Paris and General's

I did these quick studies of paintings, to show you what they could do. Nice, no?

Finally, here is my own original work, I spotted this dignified elderly gentleman at National Arts Theatre and insisted on doing a drawing of him, using red Conté.

I really like them and I would urge you to try them out, and you can also mix them with charcoal too. So go have fun!

Magdalene Odundo

For some strange reason, Nigerian Art schools look down on ceramics and call them "artisans" rather than artists. Which is really sad, as it's part of our History. So I keep looking for quality terracotta work and keep finding cheap stuff.

Then I discovered Kenyan Magdalene. A. N. Odundo.

Notice now the protrusions on this vase look like a spinal cord. Kai! This lady has a strong faithful fan in me. Most of her pottery follow curves of a human body.

Madgalene (I love her name!) was born in Nairobi and received her early education in both India and Kenya. She moved to England in 1971 to continue her training in graphic art. In 1974-1975, she visited Nigeria and Kenya to study traditional hand-built pottery techniques. She also traveled to New Mexico to observe the making of blackware vessels.

She's an OBE of the British Empire and Magdalene should be an inspiration to any female artist, especially those who want to be pottery sculptors: You are artists, finished. No less.