Tuesday, January 17, 2017

To make a long day -- short

Self portrait
Coloured pencil on paper
6 x 9 1/2 inches
Barbara Muir © 2017
I started this self portrait a few months ago, and then
what with travelling, shows, and painting, forgot about
it.  Until today.  When you come back to something 
I think it's always a shock.  The drawing needed more
contrast.  And the medium is very soft. When I first began
showing my art I worked in coloured pencil.  The thrill wore 
off quickly after I moved into watercolour, and both faded
from my mind for the most part when I
started painting on canvas with acrylics.

But these cool pencils arrived in the mail from Sketchbox,
they are multi-coloured coloured pencils, and I thought I
could just slowly, slowly complete the drawing.  Not
realistic.  Not because it wouldn't be fun, but because
I need to do other things. If I'm going to put days and 
weeks into a project I want it to be a painting. 

And today, the drawing reminded me of the feeling I had 
during that dinner with my family, holding a beautiful baby
on my lap.  That's the look.  Super Happy.  I also 
loved using these coloured pencils with multiple
colours in each one.  You can't predict or control the colour --
subtle as it is, because the colour in the pencil changes as
you draw!  Cool. Very cool.

Have a trying-out-new-supplies day.

2 comments:

  1. Sketch box, eh? That is so neat. Beautiful self portrait and you make it look as though you just tossed it off which you probably did. Cool!

    xoxo, Marcia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Marcia,

    When I started this portrait I spent a few days working on it. That's why when I found it
    I wondered what was going on then, why was it not more defined. But the benefit
    of seeing art in other centers, and of working at something every day is that it
    seems easier to figure out the next steps. Yes Sketchbox. A present to myself every
    month. I enjoy them.

    XOXOXOXO Barbara

    ReplyDelete

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