I am very behind in my blog posts so please forgive if these are short and / or make little sense. On this day (yes, I can't remember when this actually was), I felt an inexplicably strong urge to sketch something. This has not happened to me before and it was actually an exciting realisation that making art had taken hold to the extent that I really wanted to draw even though I wasn't feeling the best.
I finally set myself down in the front room for a change of scenery and looked through one of my photography books to find an image. I was immediately struck by this black and white photography of a grandmother cuddling her grandchild. The difference in the skin tone of the young child and her wizened grandmother was striking, and all the different textures of the clothing. I knew looking at it that it would be a substantial piece of work. I liked the idea though. That I would have something I could dip into as and when the drawing urge took me.
The piece has been started with an HB pencil. I can already see that I will need a much darker pencil to really get the tones, but HB is a safe starting point and easily rubbed out. Normally I would do a full rough sketch and then add detail. I knew doing this here would have ruined the fun of it somehow. So, unusually for me I simply started with the grandmother's eyes and worked out from there. Once I had grown tired of shading, or more likely was feeling a little overwhelmed with the complexity, I moved to extending the outlines to keep to sketch progression.
In all honesty I haven't touched it in about a week, but it sits on the desk in my art room and it is always there for me to add a little more detail - a hand here, the fringe of the shawl there - as and when I feel like it or feel the need.
It may take weeks or even months to complete, but I think having long-term projects like this is good for me. I was becoming very caught up in getting things finished quickly. The era of instant gratification at its best. Keeping one or two pieces that are slow burners means I always have an outlet to practise my craft and feel I have done "something" without having a definitive end goal for that day.
Without doubt when I do finish this sketch I'll begin another one and let it sit and stew on my desk too. A bit like one of those desktop Japanese sand gardens.
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