Dear Diary

For this portrait I used a reference photo from Croquis Cafe. The model’s name is Saturn. This time around I drew at my usual size of roughly 8x10 inches. I must say it was much more enjoyable than the last portrait that I drew on January 8, 2020 which was only 5x5 inches in size. While drawing larger takes longer to execute, I think it is much more fun and you can add more detail than in a smaller drawing. When I first started the drawing, I found myself feeling very stiff and unsure of where to place my lines. But after about 20 minutes of guessing and second guessing myself, I was able to relax and just have fun with the process of it. Before I knew it, the pressure to create something worthy of posting online melted away and I was able to get into the flow of just making something that I’m happy to keep in my sketchbook. The thing that makes it a special part of my sketchbook is that it makes me smile when look at it. I remember feeling the flow of creating it and how relaxed I felt during that time. I have a few drawings like that. Some others I look at and remember the frustration or disappointment I felt when I drew it. These drawings serve as a reminder of things that I was doing in my artwork that yielded unsatisfactory results. So when I flip through my book, instead of seeing horrible drawings, I see messages within the drawings like “Don’t rush through the drawing”; “Don’t worry so much about the end result”; “Take time to get measurements and angles right next time ”. In this way my sketchbook has turned into both a learning tool and a diary without needing any words.