Beauty and Grace

Today, I was able to spend time working on a study for the next seasonal woman/tree pencil drawing.  It's nice to be working on some projects again - I really didn't have time after the mural to do anything but school and holiday stuff.  But now I can incorporate regular (hopefully daily) work at the drawing table.  My goal for this year is to really put forth an effort to do something with my art, whether it's for illustration, gallery, or both.  My "featured artist" show at the Town Center Gallery in October is certainly a motivator, but I've been compelled to do something now that my youngest can entertain herself for longer periods of time.

My daughter snapped this shot of me at work

So, after sketching some ideas over the past few days, I went forward with a study.  I used to be too impatient to do a study - I always just wanted to go right in and do it.  I'm finally willing to accept the fact that I'm never happy with the result when I do that - there's always something that doesn't sit right and I end up re-doing it (even if it's years later).  At last, I'm content with doing the extra work to get a result that I'm happy with.

A glimpse of the study for "Summer"

I've also decided that, now that this is a series, the "mother nature" idea isn't really sitting right with me.  That may have worked for the first one, but seeing more than one representation, the sense of beauty and grace stands out more to me.