Sketches and Another Outlet

The benefit of having a digital camera is that I've been able to take it along to my portraiture class Friday mornings and snap away so that I have ended up with a good selection of shots of each model. My intention for doing this was so that I could work on longer and more detailed drawings at home. The beautiful model for the drawing above was Miko, a Japanese University student who was working on organic farms throughout New Zealand.

The second drawing was a bit more difficult as it was a member of my family- my cousin Gwendolyn who lives in Australia. I'm not sure if she'd really like this sketch as she's much prettier in life but I am hoping it does give some sense of her calm and peaceful nature. I told a friend this week that after I'm "gone" (in the permanent sense) my family will go through all my visual diaries, ripping out unflattering pictures of themselves. Rather like when I was at Port Ahuriri primary school and the teacher had us draw one of our parents so that the results could be sold off as a fund raiser at the school gala. I drew my mother with her Dame Edna glasses, curly red hair and the turquoise synthetic top she loved to wear. I was so proud of my effort as I thought it really looked like her but obviously my mother had a different take on it as she made sure we arrived at the gala before everyone else, bought the drawing and shoved it into her handbag. I never saw it again!

Yesterday after art group I bit the bullet again and took my goods to Country Collectables in Waipukurau, coming out with an order for cards, three brooches and some soaps. It wasn't as nerve wracking as my first wholesaling attempt but I had to bite back my disappointment that the owner didn't purchase any of my pendants. However she seemed to stock the ubiquitous beaded necklaces that are so in fashion at the moment and my hand painted pendants would not have fitted with the general feel of the shop. I will continue to find somewhere to place these.

Today I managed to get three months of writing work. Hopefully this is the start of me getting back to wielding the pen and not just the brush.