SELF PORTRAIT SKETCH

Today was one of those days when you think you don't know how to paint anymore. I never feel like that with other media but watercolor feels foreign if I have been away for awhile. I decided to try and paint my popcorn kernels this afternoon. I found a wonderful artist, Nancy Christy-Moore at www.nchristy.com and she had these beautiful floating colors and then did a fabulous ink drawing on top. I thought that would be a great way to approach this image so I coated the paper and painted loosely using the forms and values in the charcoal drawing of the popcorn. When it was dry, I did a line drawing of what I thought I saw in the image. UGLY!!! So I took it to the sink and washed off as much as I could and tried it again. I think I have a candidate for a gesso coverup. Or tissue paper. Or collage. I am about ready to abandon this idea. I do not draw well from my imagination. I need to have SOME reference in front of me. I am going to set this whole idea aside for awhile and start on a serious painting. I need to get ready for the advanced portrait class, so I am going to do a sheet of 5" x 7" bozzettos with color for people of color. I hope some of you are having better luck with your popcorn images.

In the meantime, I am posting a page from my sketch book that I did in preparation for the self portrait series. This is one of the submissions for "Strokes of Genius 2"