POR AMOR AL ARTE

i've been sketching. a lot. i feel it loosens me up, let's me practice. i like it. i love my simple mechanical pencil with it's forgiving tiny eraser.

i continue to draw faces trying to reach the 100 mark as challenged on Instagram. according to my calculations which I lost track of for a while, i am up to 90 or so. i had hoped to mount them on a board as a group, but many were gifted over the holidays as i painted them on wooden tags. 

here are some of my favorites

it surprises me how they all come out looking so distinct and different. some are Watercolor, most are acrylic paints.

my greatest discovery has been the water soluble stabilo pencil which comes in several colors. i use black the most but also enjoy the red and blue.

this was done in chalk pencils

abd this with just water soluble watercolor pencils and gesso 

as was this one. i have to say, i am really liking this simple monochromatic palette and i feel it represents me. 

the focus is still on faces at the moment but really really want to start a series on vessels (cups, jugs, pitchers, vases, pots). 

i have also been trying to frame and display some of my favorites rather than having them in the manila portfolio. once in a while i throw away a few too which makes my daughter very angry. 

there are little ones and big ones,

and an occasional crazy one

 mostly tiny ones so one of my resolutions this year is to begin painting larger. 

tell a story

expand

let my subconscious emerge

in the meantime, an urge to purge and clean house has set in and i have been sorting and discarding, keeping only that which speaks to me. i have also begun printing a lot of photographs in black and white and framing. it's all part of starting fresh.