I have not worked on the painting much this week. Adding all the detail with colored pencils would be very slow going, I found out. So this morning, I tried using a very small brush and not much water to add some more color and depth without lifting out some of the color already there. And I’ve come to realize that this process of photographing and publishing the work in progress makes me feel a little like I’ve gotten up in front of a room full of people and dropped my pants. Not quite as bad as taking off all my clothes…but I feel exposed! For one thing, I’m already excruciatingly critical of myself; and then I look at the photo of the painting at this point and think “that looks like crap.” There’s also the possibility that it will still look like crap when I’m finished.
still a long way to go
To keep myself from getting too up tight about the whole thing, I decided to “just” draw something. Of course, drawing is never “just” drawing for me. It’s an ordeal. I can’t not do it, but it’s an ordeal.
Pencil sketch of a bobcat skull.
And just to show that I sometimes do something that turns out right, I’m adding a couple of old sketches. And I mean these are about eight years old. Usually, my stuff looks better after I haven’t looked at it for several years…and if I don’t use the flash.
Scarlet macaw
Norwitch Terrier
I particularly like the sketch of the Bobcat skull.