More Barack Obama, this time a pencil sketch

I started the day determined to be far more productive than yesterday, a good night’s sleep always helps. The morning was so so but by the afternoon I was back on track. I used some self-levelling gel on my canvas abstract and spent ages using acrylic inks and a cocktail stick creating a lovely pattern in yellow, gold, silver, orange and red. As I was able to apply some texture to another area without touching the gel I decided to crack on. Everything was beginning to come together and I decided to take the colour over the edge of the canvas. That would have been fine had I not tilted the canvas to a 45 degree angle. I realised what I’d done quickly enough to prevent the entire gel ending up on the table, but not before the pattern had morphed into something else. I tweaked it as best I could but it’s not what it was, sigh. Note to self engage brain before and during painting. On arriving home Ewan couldn’t resist touching it so it now has added texture. Such a helpful boy!!!

Whilst waiting for Ewan to finish his swimming lesson, I managed a sketch of Barack Obama. It took slightly less than an hour. The skin tones are better than my last attempt so overall I’m a happy bunny.

This evening was life drawing class. My quick studies were much better than the detailed one today. Coincidentally I heard an interesting debate on Premier Christian radio about whether Christians should do life drawing. I’d never thought of it as an issue, but for some it apparently is! The topic came up this evening because the art school is moving to using a church hall and they want to continue to offer life drawing, but need to check permissions before they can make arrangements.