Metal Point

A Three Part Online Course With Kat Allard

17th February, 3rd March, and 17th March 2027

9-11am GMT (9-11pm NZT) Join live or watch the recordings

Metalpoint - most commonly known as silverpoint - is a traditional medium for drawing, using silver (or other metals) to make marks on specially prepared surfaces.

Ordinarily, metal won’t mark paper, so artists use coatings such as gesso to create a layer that can been drawn on. This ground layer is a big part of metalpoint drawing and there are many additives, binders and pigments to experiment with.

Although most metals will initially appear as a grey line, different metals will show their colour in slant light, and those that tarnish, such as silver, will change colour over time.

‘Take as much bone that has been mulled thoroughly for two hours as you need (and the finer the better)...take less than half a bean’s worth of this bone…and stir the bone together with saliva. Start distributing it over the whole tablet with your finger and, before it dries, take the tablet in your left hand and pat the surface of the tablet with the fingertips of your right hand until you see that it is completely dry; and it becomes evenly coated in bone...

Cennino Cennini (1360 – 1427?), Il Libro Dell Arte

This three session course gives time for participants to follow along with their own metalpoint projects from the beginning stages of choosing a subject, laying down a metalpoint ground, through to drawing techniques, mixed media and problem solving. We’ll allow plenty of time to follow up on any questions.