Tuesday Museday

100 Day Project Day 87

We didn’t get to see any more Aurora because the short window there may have been some visible required a lack of cloud, which our postcode could not provide. This is not unusual.

I guess you could say that aurora going on behind a blanket of cloud is another pretty analogy for the invisible productivity I was musing about yesterday. Yes, I like that – our resting creativity is like aurora behind a cloudy sky.

Today my creativity is a mixed bag. I did some tidying of supplies, and brush washing, and pottered around avoiding the task I had set myself today. Instead I played in sketchbooks, and followed on from a messy sketch I did yesterday with another of the same reference in a different medium.

The one on the left started out as a rough sketch of shadow shapes using a Polychromos pastel which I sealed with clear gesso. I then built up layers using Polychromos pastels and pencils and the clear gesso. I wasn’t aiming for a likeness, just playing.

Today I took out some Neocolor IIs and used the same reference. This time I was playing with values. The colours don’t matter for this kind of exercise, it’s the values that I am aiming for. I got more connected to the shapes in the reference photo too, so it’s a nice spread in my sketchbook with two different characters from the same reference.

Now, the portrait I am procrastinating about is a watercolour class on Let’s Face It. It’s a really beautiful class, and it’s out of my comfort zone. I am not compelled to do anything much different, or deviate from the rubric of the class, because this one is pure learning.

Well, it would be if I knuckled down and got on with it.

Today I made the drawing again, because I made the drawing previously and then made a mess of it with paint, so I am starting from scratch. I also did some colour mixing, and I am laughing at myself the way I am approaching this with very small, very precise, baby steps.

The execution of this wee portrait has become a massive mountain in my mind, which is what always happens when I procrastinate something into a longterm Thing.

Anyway, I came up with some nice colour mixes, so hopefully I will nail it tomorrow. I really want to become vaguely competent with traditional watercolour techniques, so there’s the uncomfortable process of failure and trying again to go through. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Eyes on Gaza

Til the morn,

Suzanne