Sketching a face in Grey

When sketching a face in grey, I don't feel that choosing a monochrome space limits me. Whites, greys and blacks are the colour space in which to focus on the most important things we want to portray in a painting. When the motif is a human face, the monochrome of this space even gives me more freedom than the colours.
When sketching a face in grey, I focus on form, deep shadows and grey half-shadows. Although black and white are present in my portrait images in black and white works, they are present more for contrast. They form a kind of reference to grey – the most important shade in these images, which most accurately reflects how life is – almost never radically white or black. Mostly – in between – grey.

Faces in black and white, faces in grey. Two series.

– Works made in the artist's own printmaking technique, year of creation 2014
– Pen and ink drawings, year of creation 2012