Well we are back home and starting to settle into normal life again. This weekend I have spent some time catching up on some sketching - mainly working on portraits, which I have not done for quite some time. Its amazing how you can forget what to do if you don't practice. My case in point is this......
This was a portrait that I did a couple of years ago, when I was sketching on a regular basis.....its a portrait of Agatha Christie. I was pretty happy with the result. This was done with graphite pencils.
I also did this portrait of my friend Angelica - this one in pastels - I was also pretty happy with the result.
BUT THEN, SOMETHING WENT WRONG!!!!!!
This was a sketch I did in my art journal..........which I guess is different from sketching a portrait - more abstract I suppose.......but I tried again and ended up with this!
Which again is OK for a journal page but I just kept going then, trying to remember how to get proportions right......all the things I learned at art classes.....
I don't seem to be getting much better...........
Again, proportions aren't right........
I have decided............I am in my 'Picasso' phase..........realism will come again one day.....I just have to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!!!
Thanks for stopping by!! xxx
VonnieMay that is a very very interesting point you make about practice, and in this case, I can see the results of your point. But I wonder if there is something more than practice involved in this ... I sometimes wonder whether our 'other' artistic senses take over when we stop drawing for a while. For instance,, you would have been doing a lot of photography while you were away, and that calls for a different sense of aesthetics and proportion. I find when I'm in a very prolific painting phase, my photography gets bad and then vice verse. Perhaps the brains in our mere mortal heads only likes to master one craft at a time?? Vallie xoxo
ReplyDeleteVallie - you may be right! But I think something else comes to play here - and that is patience! The first two drawings were done over time - and each took quite some time to finish. The other drawings were in 'art journal' mode - they were each done within 10 mins - I think I need to be a bit kinder to myself and realise there is a difference between drawing to get a 'real' result - or just getting something down on paper for my journal. xx Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteA really good drawing does take time. I'm often impatient two. Those old portraits are spectacular by the way. I think practice is indeed important, but maybe you're expecting a bit too much from yourself. I hike a lot, but if I skip it for a while all my muscles start to protest when I get back to it and then all I can do is get back into the habit. Maybe that's all it takes. Practice and time and....patience (sigh). ;-)
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