Rachel 'n Rosie, revisited

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About 10x8", pencil on paper

Well it's been a hectic few days over here. My baby is still sick... and the way my sleep schedule has been turned upside down lately is making me feel like I'm suffering from some crazy jet lag (unfortunately no fun trip to show for it). Apart from checking Instagram WAY too many times a day (some little sick people like to be held at all times), I've also been working on this little drawing of my sister when nap time comes around, just to give my hands something to do and keep me sane. It's reminding me a lot of assignments from high school and introductory college art classes--you know, grab a picture out of a magazine and copy it? I also thought this might look really good on the back of an off-brand drawing pencil box at a big box craft store. My future is looking bright, folks ;) 

The reason I'm not loving it right now is probably just because I drew it (the problem is real). But joking aside, also because it just got a little too photo-realistic for me (which tends to happen when working from a photo!). I can tell you right now that photo realism will not be my specialty. One of my college professors told me one day that I just shouldn't try to paint from photographs--it tends to make my efforts flat and stale. He was right, and I think it's a common problem among artists. There's just something about working from life that forces you to make important decisions quickly and relate them to each other in ways that make sense. I'm sure having a lot of practice working from life helps a person be able to use photos effectively as references, but I don't have tons of experience working from life yet, so there you go. And I should probably figure out how to use charcoal sometime too--as much as I try, I just can't make that graphite look as black as I want it to--it's shiny stuff. 

Also, here's a teeny tiny sketchy painting of the same image from several months ago, if you're interested (that's where the "revisited" comes in): Rachel 'n Rosie

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