22/08/2026
Well, I, for one, am glad it has cooled down. I cant deal with hot weather. I’m more of a spring, autumn, winter kind of gal. So I was ecstatic when it rained for the first time in ages 😂 If I’d been able, I’d have done a rain dance; though it would’ve done nothing for my street cred 🤔 I’m hoping my desiccated back garden will get some life back in it.
Drawing wise, im still enjoying drawing still life. I find it a nice change from all the portrait work I’ve been doing for a while. I’ll pop a few pics below. I’m enjoying switching between mediums of coloured pencil, watercolour, and watercolour pencils; as well as ink and other watercolour mediums. I want to try and improve on my colour work as much as possible. I do feel I’ve made some progress as I can see improvements in the areas I used to struggle in.
I think that’s the strangest thing in this job. Being your own critic, keeping a watch on your own standards. There’s no manager, work colleague, etc, to point out a fault if one arises that you’re not aware of. It’s about being hyper aware- and also knowing when something is good enough. Knowing when to stop. Knowing when to restart from scratch. The other day I was working on a portrait commission. It started off so well, then it got to a point where I was just unhappy. You know that feeling? When something feels ‘off’. Looking at it, it seemed okay, but I just couldn’t get over that feeling.i finally figured out where I had gone wrong and in the bin it went. I was a bit disappointed as I really loved the background layers I had put in. Some faces are easier to draw than others. This guy is even more taxing as he’s wearing full stage makeup and weird contact lenses that throw off even the best of my eye measurement tactics. I’ve now sussed it and progress is ongoing.
Another (and sorry for the ramble) issue this week. The pencil sharpener debate. Now this may seem rather ridiculous to most people. A sharpener is a sharpener right? Wrong! It really isn’t. I have sharpeners for different jobs. My best one, which is a German brand, is the one I use for my graphite pencils. It creates a long point, and it also has the option of sharpening the little nib on the end of the graphite. This is perfect for those pencils. I use a cheaper sharpener for coloured pencils (mainly the cheaper branded ones). The wood on those pencils is generally not the best and can ‘kick’ in the sharpener. So a tough, metal sharpener deals with those. I use a middle of the range sharpener for the good quality coloured pencils. This may seem like madness, but there is method in my madness…honest! You try a cheap sharpener against a good one and you’ll see the difference. The issue has been trying to suss out a ‘good’ cheaper sharpener for my cheaper coloured pencils. My husband ordered about 50 cheap ones I will be trying. Why 50? Well, a single cheap sharpener will last about a week. Why use cheaper pencils and good ones? That’s a debate for another day.
Enjoy your weekend.
