White on Black at Asian Museum

 

10/19/25 Lokeshvara with raised arm, 11th century Cambodia, Seattle Asian Art Museum
(white colored pencil, chalk pastel on black Arteza paper) 

Followers of this blog know how much I love making nocturnes during the darkest part of the year, especially around the holidays. I’ve also occasionally enjoyed doing life drawing (when the model had sufficiently dramatic lighting) using white pencils on black paper. I had never thought to use white on black to draw museum sculptures, but it actually makes a lot of sense, since museums typically allow only pencil use inside the galleries. When I saw that Gage was offering a unique workshop on this subject, it blew my mind open.

Taught by Rebecca Strong, the three-hour workshop had a single, distinct focus: Draw a sculpture at the Seattle Asian Art Museum using white pencils on black paper. In her supply list, she mentioned a number of types of pencils – white colored pencils as well as pastel, chalk and so-called “white charcoal.” She offered to share her own pencils, and we could also bring whatever we already owned. (I had to laugh at that part: If I brought “whatever” I already owned, it would be quite a load! But I do love it when I take a workshop and don’t have to buy a single new thing!)

Avoiding drawing lines, we were instructed to squint to see tonal values more clearly and use white media to shade only the light. After a short demo, she let us loose in the exhibits that housed the most sculptures, and we were to choose one to draw.

A simple supply list: black paper and an assortment of white pencils.

In the same way that we use a range of grades from hard to soft when working with graphite, Rebecca suggested using a range of white pencils from hard to soft. I started with a Stabilo All (I’m not sure what that pencil is made of, but it is billed as a “marking” pencil that can write on glass and metal) and Faber-Castell Polychromos as my harder “grades.” I then moved progressively softer and more opaque with Prismacolor, Holbein and finally a Conte pastel pencil. The Conte worked especially well as a smudgy background on the right side of the drawing.

As it always does when I draw only the light, my brain had to do a rollover. Of course, my tonal work in colored Uglybooks the past several years certainly helped me make the rollover more quickly. Using nothing but pencils, the result is more interesting and dynamic than it often is (at least for me) using only graphite.

What a fun challenge! I see myself visiting more museums this winter with this new focus in mind and more white pencils in my bag.