Silverpoint

Nocturne: Palaces

Nocturne: Palaces, Whistler, 1879–80
Cleveland Museum of Art

Whistler, Nocturne: Palaces, 1879–80. etching.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King

Master studyMass

Nocturne: Palaces

A canal at night, drawn with what is left out

From the second Venice set, 1879 to 1880: palaces along a canal at night, the plate tone left on the copper so the whole image swims in grey, a single lamp, a few windows, the water below. Whistler drew the dark and wiped the light. In pencil this is a subtractive study: lay the night, then take the lights out.

In pencilWhistler left a film of ink on the plate and wiped it away for the lights. Lay a 4B field with the side of the lead over the whole sheet, then draw the lights with the kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero, the lamp last and sharpest.

Difficulty
Time
about 2 h
You draw with
2B, 4B, 6B graphite on their sides, kneaded eraser
Erasers as drawing toolsAn even field of toneHard, soft and lost edgesWater as a mirrorGrouping values

Why this one

  • The subtractive method in its purest form: a field of tone, then lifted lights.
  • Architecture reduced to a few windows and an edge.
  • A lesson in how little information a night scene needs.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2B, 4B, 6B 2B, 4B, 6B for the darks, on their sides for mass. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Pitt Matt 8B to 12B for the big tone passages: matt, so the dark mass reads as tone, not shine.
  3. 3Kneaded eraser (warm it) and the clean Mono Zero lift the lights out of the mass; the Mono Zero for sky holes and lit edges.
  4. 4Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad, medium tooth
  • 2B, 4B, 6B with long points
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Precision eraser
  • Slip sheet

Watch first

All videos →

Laying a charcoal ground and lifting the lights out, the late-Corot method.

YouTube
How to create realistic water reflections with graphite pencilsPeonypaint · Vertical strokes, darker lights, horizontal breaks: the pond at Ville-d'Avray in method.Train your eyes to see valuesProko · Squinting, value scales and why beginners under-read darks.

The plan

4 stages · ~95 min
  1. 1

    Lay the night

    20 min

    4B on its side, slip sheet under the hand: an even field over the whole drawing area at a middle-dark value. Then 6B over the palace masses, slightly darker, edges soft. No lights yet.

    An even field of tone compared with a streaky one, with the stroke pattern that produces eachWRONG · ROWS AND HARD STOPSRIGHT · OVERLAPPED, FEATHEREDrows with gaps, pencil stopsdeadfeathered ends, each passoverlaps the last by halfLift the pencil as it leaves the paper, like a plane taking off. Hard stops make dark ends.
    FigureAn even field first.
    Checklist0 / 3
  2. 2

    Take the lights out

    45 min

    Kneaded eraser, warmed, pressed to a chisel: the windows as soft pale rectangles. Pulled downward: their reflections. Mono Zero, clean: the lamp, one hard-edged lift, and its reflection as a broken vertical.

    Still water as a mirror: reflections drawn with vertical strokes, a half-step darker than what they reflect, and broken by a few horizontal ripple lineswater linesky: value 1sky's reflection: value 2 (darker)Everything reflects straight down from its base. Vertical strokes. Lights darker,darks lighter. Then break it with three horizontals.Corot's ponds are the sky laid flat, a half-step darker, with the grain of the paper left for sparkle.
    FigureA reflection is the light pulled downward.
    Checklist0 / 3
  3. 3

    Edges

    20 min

    Decide the one or two edges that are sharp (the lamp, maybe one roofline) and leave every other edge lost. Stand back. If anything but the lamp has a hard edge, soften it with a finger.

    A foliage mass against sky and a distant hill, labelled where its edge is hard, soft, and lostHARDcrisp against the bright skySOFTblurred where the form turnsLOSTsame value as the ground: the edge disappearsA drawing with only hard edges is a cut-out. Lose at least one edge on every form.
    FigureOne hard edge in a sea of lost ones.
    Checklist0 / 2
  4. 4

    Compare

    10 min

    How many windows did Whistler draw? How many did you? Note, date, box.

    Checklist0 / 2

What it should look like

  • A grey field with a few lights taken out of it.
  • One sharp lamp and nothing else sharp.
  • Palaces you believe without being able to count their storeys.

Where it goes wrong

  • Drawing the palaces. You know what a palace looks like. Whistler did not draw them. He lifted eight windows. Do that.
  • The field goes streaky. Pressure and tip. Side of the lead, three passes at three angles, slip sheet.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~120 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextLe Pont des Arts at dusk

Before this, ideally

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