Selfies & Sneaky Sketches #PortraitaDaySA Day 4 & 5

The long Easter weekend reminded me of a few things. One is is that marshmallow Easter eggs are addictive and do not last long in my home. The second is that, after a frustrating start, I love drawing with pencils again. How could I forget!

I started this #PortraitaDaySA pencil portrait on Saturday and worked a little more into it on Easter Sunday.

Okay, that's kind of cheating, and it doesn't look exactly like me, but the process was fun. So much so that I was just thinking, 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if #drawnselfie was like a thing?!' Yes, sometimes my inner voice sounds like Cher from Clueless...with hashtags. So I searched and it is a thing! Yay! Click here to check it out.

On Easter Sunday I was back to my sketchy ways in church (actually I never left them) and drew this lovely lady in a black ball-point pen (my fav).

Check out more #PortraitaDaySA posts by clicking here

Live on Friday #PortraitaDaySA Day 3

When it comes to drawing portraits, there's nothing better than drawing from life.

I spent Good Friday with my family, which offered me the perfect opportunity sharpen a pencil and, between sips of coffee, complete day three of my #PortraitaDaySA challenge.

Purple Slays Perfectionism #PortraitaDaySA Day 2

This week I listened to talk by artist Ann Rea and something she said struck me... "Perfectionism kills creativity."

Oh boy, do I know that! I've been caught by the notion that everything has to be perfect - I have to inspired, my materials have to be perfect and my workspace has to be a bright, light "pin-worthy" creative space. But I'm changing...

I'm learning to accept that, even making bad art is good practise.

So this evening, for my #PortraitaDaySA challenge, I grabbed a purple felt tip pen and, without drawing a pencil guideline, I tried use a material I'm not used to draw a portrait of myself. It turned into a bit of a caricature but what the heck, it made me laugh at myself.

Baby I'm Back! #PortraitaDaySA Day 1

It's been a while but I'm back to keep an account of my a new project - #PortraitaDaySA 

 

A portrait a day 

I plan to draw a portrait every day for a month. Okay, I have drawn quite a few heads but, since I'm usually drawing them on the sly, getting a back or a side view, drawing people front on is a challenge for me. It's something I've started working on but I could do a lot more to improve. 

I've been inspired to start a daily project after following Crystal Moody's awesome painting a day project for a few months. I decided to follow Crystal's lead and share my project online, as a way to keep myself accountable and document the process. 

Everyone has a hashtag

Have you noticed how people speak in hashtags now? From hashtag music album names to hashtag t-shirt logos, the hashtag has jumped off Twitter and into everyday life. So I thought I'd use a hashtag too after all, if you can't beat them... So my hashtag is #PortraitaDaySA. 

A few days after I had decided this project, Crystal Moody mentioned #CreativeSprint, a 30-day creative challenge, in her email newsletter (so worth subscribing too). So I decided to join it. It's meant to be. Hopefully, come 30 April, I'll be drawing prettier portraits. 

Oh, and if you were wondering, the first portrait is a pen drawing. I drew the outline in pencil first - my attempt to get the proportions right - and then went over it and added details in pen. I drew from a photo of one of my little nephews. He's much cuter than this portrait but hey, it's a start. 

Warming Up

I have a very, very, very big canvas waiting to be painted and it's only been a year since I painted  *gasp!* so I'm totally not freaking out or anything. Ha ha! 

I've never painted anything near this kind of scale and have no idea how other artists start, but thought I'd get going with a few practice paintings and sketches - studies of elements for the big painting. 

I guess you can call this a warm-up.