Colored Pencil Portrait

This time I just used colored pencil on a page from "Gone With The Wind". No gesso at all. Sometimes it's just fun to sketch something while watching/listening to a video on YouTube. Have been obsessed with Abraham-Hicks lately. Now "you create your own reality" from the Seth Material feels a lot more do-able. It sure would be a lot more fun to feel as if I create the reality I want by choice and not by chance or habit. Been working on this since 1985 when I first discovered Jane Roberts' Seth books . I have to learn to feel my way as well as think my way to what I want. And, imagination sure is important for any goal, any desire, any, any, any....

Photo Artista and Watercolor

 I seem to be spending an awful lot of time playing with the photography apps on my i-phone.  Photo Artista - Haiku  is endlessly fascinating to me. I especially like it because I can take any photo stored in the camera and play with it - over and over and over, getting all kinds of effects going.

 I dream of making art like this app does, so lately I've been using the photos as a guide. I print one out on Ink Jet Sticker Project Paper and stick it to the opposite page in my journal. Then I get my number 4 pencil out and do my darndest to get similar lines down. I like having the photo as a reference and will look at it in the future and know what I was working with at the time.

 I used  Inktense Watercolor Pencils thinking I didn't want the water color to run if I splashed layers of color over the drawing. It works well, but this weight paper in the journal is really only for dry media, so I'm not too happy with the watercolor effect. It just does not run down the page when it is wet and it is very hard to blot color up for highlights. Oh well, the drawing part is really what interests me now.

 Next time I'm going to do a very messy background page first, and then draw the image. I'm sure I will like it so much better because it will be a lot less controlled.
Draw and learn. Over and over, draw and learn.

A graphite portrait -

This weekend I picked up my pencils again to see what I could do with graphite and no paint to confuse me!

This took a few hours, but it was fun to do. I'm not so happy with the paper. It is a 9 inch by 12 inch, 65 lb. sketch pad that I am dedicating to just portraits, but the paper seems to fill up with graphite very quickly. I've noticed that drawing on watercolor paper is a lot different. The graphite smears more and I have a much easier time getting shadows and shading the way I like. Oh well, live and learn.

Does she look black and beautiful?

I think so.