I wish I was a multi-tasker but as it turns out I am far from it. One thing becomes the focus and so inevitably other things fall by the wayside for a while and picked up again once the busyness has lessened. But accepting some of my quirks is a pathway to me moving forward I feel and whilst many times over I have tried to change the way I am, I am gradually realising that as long as I keep taking steps forward, it does not really matter if on occasion those steps are more like that of a crab than a race-walker.

Self portraits in conte

Case in point – the conte portraits for July. I had to put them aside for a while as I was in full writing mode for my newest course Drawn to Expression. I thought I had so many more to do before meeting my self-imposed quota for the month. As it turns out I finished more than I thought and so I have a few more to show you. My aim was for 31 for the month and I will be working on some more just to make up that number (I love having goals, even if it takes me longer than most to meet them : ) I have actually really missed having new work to show you so I hope you will forgive me for indulging myself with work that is now unbelievably more than a month old.

Left portrait loosely based on reference image, right portrait self portrait

So I did make it up to 25 and I shall very much look forward to creating a few more to add this collection which I am actually quite proud of!

Conte and charcoal both loosely from reference images

The next month or two looks a little different for me as I continue on with Drawn to Expression (the class began on 7th September) and then the week after that finishes I nervously take my first steps in teaching overseas as I am off to North Carolina and Random Arts to teach two, five day workshops. I am so excited about that and there is not long to go now before I will be flying over the sea!

Loosely based on reference images and self portraits

Then when I return I will have another long period of studio time which I am so excited about. I have been thinking about how my week will look and it will really be a mixture of play-time in the studio, research time for a body of work that has been in my mind for a while now and also continuing on with the We all Cast Shadows work as I still have some in progress paintings on the easel and ideas for new work for that collection.

I am so grateful that the teaching and e-courses enable me to have studio time like this which is something I have been working towards for a while and always dreamed it would happen.