Portrait de Sandra

I really really like the work of Wendy MacNaughton. She doesn't post often enough to feed my addiction to her, but when she does I'm in heaven. If you've never seen her work, you should definitely check it out! That said, the drawing of the man with the pipe, and the drawing of the lady are both my attempts at her style. I haven't even come close. I'm new with color and not nearly as spontaneous with my line. I've also done many copies of her work, which I won't post because, well, it seems more like plagerism and I wouldn't want to offend her.

Both of these are done with Lamy Safari fountain pen, noodlers black ink, and watercolor on the second.

The portrait of Sandra was taken from a photo found on flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spock27/1388070521/ Spock27 has some great photos!

Paper scraps and HB pencils

Sometimes it is necessary to use whatever tools you have available for sketching. These sketches are done in HB pencil on notebook paper. Sorry for the poor quality of the scan. I don't have photoshop; I have Corel Painter X. Though, I don't really know how to use it. I tried to make the sketches darker so you could see them, but as you can see, the quality is not good. I was practicing freehand circles while watching tv.

Finally, I'm not just lurking.

I have drawn off and on for most of my life. What typically happens is this:
I do some sketches that I like and suddenly start drawing ALL the time. I become consumed by it. About a year later, I'll hit a plateau. In frustration I give it all up. I put away the supplies. (or give it away thinking I'll never use it again!) A year may pass, sometimes more, when I have need to do a quick sketch for someone. They'll give me positive feedback and then suddenly I'm back in the game. Only, I now have to redevelop those drawing muscles. And get new supplies. And then it starts all over.

I am hoping that with this blog, when I get to that plateau (which I know will come), I will struggle through and make it to the other side. I hope to explore color. I hope to draw in PUBLIC (my heart starts racing at the thought!). And, I hope to make friends with people who have the same interests!