I’m finding it hard to reconnect with the freedom of my daily drawing practice after the month of portraits. I think for a little while I will limit the time allowed on the daily drawing, partly to force myself to be less fussy, and partly to make sure I have time to finish my other May projects!
DO NOT QUESTION THE ANATOMY
Experiments with mediums: mixing caran d’ache water soluble crayons with acryla-gouache, on gesso’d paper. Getting brighter colors, that are smooshable on the surface for longer.
pictures I saw today that stuck with me: lava flow in Hawai’i, old remains of an elephant caught in a lava flow. Spring energy coming through the old bones of winter.
dancing in the Spring
Haha! Back to the playhouse! This one is for the Beltaine fires, and the eulogy for Old Man Winter.
To finally wrap up my month of portrait practice, here’s an homage to my father’s mother Dorothy Greenough, who was a skilled portrait artist. I grew up surrounded by her work, and she was my first art teacher. Even as a small child, she never let me rest with self-satisfaction, but always asked what I could try to make the drawing even better in some small way.
I don’t have many photos of Dottie, but here she is at home in Providence, and that’s two of my siblings on the mantelpiece.
Love and remembrance.
I gave myself Beltain Eve off so I could attend to the serious business of making sure Old Man Winter was well and properly disposed of.
This is my final “April” practice portrait. I’m so grateful to friends who sent wonderful photos of themselves and loved ones for me to practice on, I certainly know interesting folks!
I feel like I learned a lot, and got a sense of how much more there is for me to learn. But for now, it will be nice to get back to my stream-of-consciousness structure, and more flexible time – each portrait took about 3 hours, and I do have other projects that need time and attention.
As always, thank you for looking!
xox Kate
