Still working on my drawing. I am slowly learning the need to be meticulous in my work - and taking time to focus on every area of a drawing is so important! I am amazed just how difficult it is to get used to both pencil and pure graphite sticks. As an amateur, I always thought that you 'just use them'! But of course they should be wielded with the skill of a surgeon using a scalpel. Perfect shade and tone can only be achieved when you know from experience what type of pencil etc to use and also have the knowledge (that comes from endless practice) to use that subtle distinction in pressure or angle which will give depth and realism to the image.

Difficult! Frustrating! But very, very satisfying when you see an improvelent in your work!

I am delighted to have finally finished this piece and feel a real sense of achievement. I set myself a specific target i.e. to try to draw a realistic, identifiable portrait of someone, and I feel that I have managed it with my completed 'Balian' picture. My brain is exhausted.Why does no-one tell you how hard and tiring it is to try to 'see' what is before one's eyes, and how hard it is to control the pencil (or whatever) in such a way that one can get gradations of light and shade!

Anyway, I have whetted my appetite for more - so now I am contemplating my next goal! Wish me luck!

The thing I really like about DA is that it provides a forum for those of us who are beginners as well as the real experts. Seeing the fantastic work of people like Lion83 [link] [Eurofoxx is another one! [link] ] and so many others - see my favs - can give you a real sense of challenge. One day perhaps we can achieve this level of skill. But tonight, I feel a little disheartned. Perhaps I will never be so good an artist. Should I just put my pencils away and settle for just watching the experts? On the other hand, when you look closely at some profiles you often see that they have been working for some time. Occaionally there will be examples of earlier works which are not so good - but they are very interesting and helpful for the rest of us, as this level seems more achievable.

Well, I suppose the thing is to just keep going - practicing, and studying the work of others - so that in the end we will be a lot better than we otherwise might have been, even if we cannt reach the top of the mountain.

And apart from that, it is very interesting to share comments and ideas with other deviants. So that alone makes it fun. So... tomorrow is another day. If I have enough energy, I will continue my 'Orlando Bloom as Balian' picture - hoping that I don't get this far, ony to spoil it at the finish! Wish me luck!

This is a lovely Feastday - the first Sunday after Easter, when Catholics celebrate the great mercy of God.
The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread. The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us — no matter what terrible things we have done, as long as we turn away from them, recognize that His mercy is greater than anything we might have done, and call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others.
Isn't that comforting?

I have done a lot of drawing this week and I feel that at last I am making some progress. My work is still very wobbly and uncertain- but at least my figures are beginning to look a little more realistic. I saw a beautiful pad of wonderful drawing paper yesterday [140lbs] thick, and smooth which I know would have been much easier to work on - but it was expensive, and it would not be worth it for my standard of drawing. But I live in hope! In the meantime, I am drawing everything I can, but concentrating especially on faces as they are both fun to do and provide plenty of practice in shading and expression.

I have drawings all over the house, because I keep drawing paper in every room along with a pencil. I also keep a small notebook and pencil in my bag to be used at odd moments when I am out and about - but if I am in a coffee shop, or waiting in the car etc. I will practice on the pack of an old envelope or on any scrap piece of paper lying around. I am determined to crack this skill. One day - one day -- maybe I can begin to be as good as some of my 'favs'!! I live in hope!!!

Today I have added a picture of Maximilian Kolbe - a monk who died in the Camps in the Second World War. It doesn't look too much like him - but at least he looks more like a real person. So ... onward with the practice - and watch this space!!