Remember this bust? I got her in January 2010 and I'm just now getting around to sketching her. I've not been sketching much at all lately--there is always something else that needs my attention, like cleaning or cooking dinner. I know it is nothing but procrastination, but unfortunately, it wins sometimes. No, I'm not proud of that fact, but there it is. Anyway, today was beautiful, in the eighties, sunny. I don't enjoy Texas summers much, so I figured I needed to spend as much time outside as possible before it gets here. I mean, eighties!!... in February!? Since the backyard is in that ugly stage it gets after dealing with a week of hard freezes, I picked the Diana bust off my desk to draw and carried all my supplies outside. This is modified contour in my Lamy Safari fountain pen with watercolor added. Limited palette of cadmium orange and pthalo blue. The colors on the scan aren't quite right, the background being more of a greenish blue. One thing happened on this sketch that you wouldn't think would make me happy...but did. It has been a long time since I've really gotten into a sketch so much that the outside world fades away. If you look closely at her chin, you'll see a little 'blip' in the ink line. My husband had come through the back door, crossed about twenty feet of the back deck (wood, never quiet!), paused a sec, and then spoke. The noises had barely registered in my brain, so it startled me! Seems strange, perhaps, to be happy about something like that!?
I did this one yesterday and it is fairly obvious that I hadn't been sketching much. I did it for Julia Kay's portrait party. This is "Stacey" of staceysketches on flickr. Again, the scanner didn't quite get the colors right...the background is more of an orange color than pink. I wasn't happy with the results, but considering how rusty I was when I did it, I'll be thankful for what I managed!This evening we went to Baytown and met up with my first cousin, once removed, who I hadn't seen 1986. I took my sketchbook, intending to draw in the restaurant (there were five of us, total, so the focus wouldn't just be on me). The thing is, I was too embarrassed to do it. It is easier for me to sit alone and sketch in public. If I'm with family, it somehow feels like I'm showing off. Do you sometimes get that? I read so many blogs where the artists do this all the time. Am I just being insecure?
