Metalpoint and Preparation

Overview

Silverpoint, also referred to as metalpoint, is an ancient method of drawing that was used for the most part, prior to the "invention" of graphite pencils.  The history of silverpoint drawing and the artists most famous for using it may be easily found online.  For the purposes of this page, a brief explanation of silverpoint is the use of a pure silver stylus point making marks on paper or other prepared ground.

I remember a moment when I was fiddling with a paper clip and noticed that it made a mark on whatever paper I attached it to.  I noticed it because the marks made the papers look "messy" from the mark.  In fact, I can even remember "doodling" with the ends of paperclips in school.

Recently I wrote two pages that address the vocation of being an artist in a poor economy, titled "What Do I Really Need" and "Drawing With Wax Crayon".  These two pages explain methods of drawing that enable any artist to continue to work while struggling with finances, either in graphite or in wax crayon, the basis of both being drawing skills. The third choice I would include in this group of methods is silverpoint.  It is perhaps the top end of an inexpensive way to achieve fine art.

A few months ago, I was looking through the products at one of my favorite vendors, Natural Pigments, and noticed their header on Silverpoint products.  At the time, I was buying pigment, and didn't want to invest in more than I needed, so thought I would explore silverpoint later on.

More recently,  I was looking for the best way to depict some natural subjects, animals, plants, etc., without using my standard method of pen and ink stippling.  I was looking for a sophisticated, yet somewhat "dreamy" effect that my color stippling would have shown in too direct a manner.  I explored the idea of graphite, but for permanent drawings, I do not like how it smudges, and do not like to apply fixatives to finished pieces.  Color pencil is closer to the effect I was looking for, but the color gets in the way to some extent, drawing the viewer away from the metaphysical aspect of the subject, and toward the application of color and the skill (or lack of it) of the artist.  Hmmmm.

So, I did an image search online to see how others achieved what I was trying to do and again found silverpoint.  The paperclips I used to doodle with were telling me something.

Metal will make permanent marks on certain surfaces.  Soft metals especially, leave deposits of their "atoms" as it were, on these surfaces.  The marks are permanent, can not be erased, and will react to the environment over time.

Most commonly used in metalpoint work is pure silver.  Gold, copper, aluminum, and platinum are also used, each having distinct reactions as they oxidize.

Metalpoint, or more specifically, silverpoint,  seems to be the right tool that I have been looking for.  Its use follows my personal requirement that my tools must be fairly inexpensive (following along the lines of the two above-mentioned pages), the resulting work must be permanent, and the application or use must be fairly simple.  Silverpoint meets all of those needs, as well as bringing a unique quality of ethereal history, a continuation of art for the sake of art, following in the footsteps of many of the great Masters of art.

The basic requirements for metalpoint or silverpoint are a metal stylus or point to draw with, prepared paper or prepared paper mounted to a board or other substrate, and time.