Charcoal artist mines the sea and beyond

GIVE Lyn Raymer some charcoal and erasers and she’ll give you a drawing full of emotion, texture, and a story.

With that in mind, Raymer now has had two consecutive and distinct series on show at Exhibit B at Bendigo Bank Central.

The first, Transit was on display from 26 July to 6 August and featured drawings looking down on crowds, and the second Bombs and Beads is showing until Monday, 22 August and features spherical drawings of sea mines and single worry beads.

The charcoal artist said the mines were inspired by a book about navel battleships she read when she was young and a subsequent recurring nightmare of a large sea mine appearing at her doorstep.

She said when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the spike protein reminded her of the mines.

“When COVID came along, the ball with the little spikes, I thought ‘I know you from somewhere’,” she said.

“I went to it and thought, there’s my COVID. That was a little bit dark, and I thought I had to come out of here some time.”

The worry beads were a way for Raymer to keep the spherical shape but draw something lighter in tone.

“They still had that sphere, but as I say, worry beads are supposed to get you out of a tense space and they did,” she said.

Raymer uses a reductive method of charcoal drawing, starting by covering the entire paper with charcoal, and then using erasers to “chase the light” and provide detail to the work.

“I think people love [charcoal drawing] because they can get a variety of lines and moods,” she said.

“You can get very soft; you can smudge it. You get the big gesture from your arm and if you need to you can get the tiny details.”

The artist, who honed her skill in Hong Kong and Dubai, has been a finalist in more than a dozen national prices, including the Muswellbrook Art Prize and Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize.