Been a long, long time

It has been a very long time since I posted anything to my art blog. Since my in laws died, I have had very little creative energy. We expended so much of our hearts taking care of them in the last two years of their lives that I think I kind of tapped myself out. I've been slowly perusing my favorite blogs again, hoping to get back some spark of what I used to have - some bit of desire to make something, anything.

I have been messing around with charcoal pencils. I'm going to show you all something, but I'll preface it with this. I do not know how to draw anything. Really. If I try to draw a tree, it comes out unrecognizable. I have no depth perception thanks to an eye doctor not listening to me when I was seven, so I truly don't see light and shadow the way everyone else seems to. Things are flat in my eyes, which means the nuances artists capture in images are lost on me. So try not to laugh.

This is a work in progress. I like the woman, but I want to get some more shadowing on her back. I hate the background and plan to paint over it and start over. Maybe even leave it stark white for contrast if I can get the shading on the woman correct - big if.



This picture is standing in front of our big window and I see her every time I walk through the dining room (where I do my art). My husband doesn't like her very much. He doesn't know why I draw bigger women, but when I draw men's backs and bottoms, they are thin, lanky even. Women are supposed to be soft, pliable, fluffy. We bear the weight of entire generations of people on our shoulders and we need a good solid ass to sit on to keep that weight from crushing us. I think she's a beautiful size and I inadvertently draw women this size.

How did I come to be able to draw people when I can't draw a simple object? True story - I dreamed about it. I dreamed about a man's back, scarred and beautiful, and I was drawing it in my dream. When I woke up, I felt like I had to try. Imagine my surprise when I got proportions right on the first try. Sure, I know my drawings are elementary, but for me, it's a giant leap to be able to draw something people can recognize.

Hopefully I'll be posting more as I plan to push myself to make stuff.