Quick sketch after Cecilia Beaux

This was probably a little under an hour of sketching, and it's not as good as I would like it to be. Ha. But it's something, and something is a lot more than nothing (especially when school is out for winter break!). I got a little lost in that jumble of hands, and didn't do a great job of varying the line through that area either. But I really love this painting and this artist, and I should probably do more of this kind of sketching. It's a little more enjoyable (manageable) than trying to control that paint :/

I just finished reading Solomon J. Solomon's book about drawing and painting a last week. It was really good. He describes a lot of mistakes that people make starting out, and well, they're all me. He must have had a crystal ball or something.

I like to have faith that I can overcome all my faulty tendencies. But sometimes it's hard to believe, especially when I look around and see all these people doing amazing things. It can be a little demoralizing living in this world where comparison is always just a click away. I know it shouldn't be, but it is. Then again, when I look around and see what everyone else is doing, none of it looks like what I would do if I could do it ;) So maybe that can keep me going for a bit.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Mr. Solomon:

"The ever-present source of confusion to the inexperienced eye is, that lines, particularly when they are foreshortened, appear to take a direction contrary toward which in reality they lean"

"To the uninitiated it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the predominating light from others that are to all appearance equal to it in brilliancy"

"Originality is not affectation, but the frank expression of personality"

"Nothing gives a more commonplace or cut-up aspect than the marked reflections, on which the beginner insists. If you will only look at them, your eyes nearly closed, you will see how much less definite they really are than they look at first sight."

"All light passages enclosed between darker ones appear lighter than they are. Remember this throughout your practice."

"When anything strikes you as particularly beautiful, draw it, and in drawing it search for the secret of its beauty."

"Above all things, value your work in the making but lightly. Be bold to efface and renew, and take encouragement from the thought that you may learn more from honest failure than from mild success."

"There are, or should be, as many kinds of art as there are temperaments."

"Ever keep the big things in view. Simplicity is the greatest virtue, and the last achieved in any art."

"You will get into messes often enough, and you must learn how to get out of them. You may be sure that without great determination nothing is achieved that is worth achieving."

Speaking of great determination, here's the current state of my Homer:

It's going to take great determination to get through this, and I don't think (realistically) I will be able to finish it this week.