"Flower Child"

"Flower Child"  Polychromos and Prismacolor colored pencils on
Fabriano watercolor paper from my photo.

When I was in high school, I really thought I could draw.  Our art
classes were made up of 30 students or so, and I was one of the more
talented ones in the bunch.  A lot of students took Art because they
thought it would be an easy A.  When I went to college, however, I
had to take Life Drawing 101 with Mr. Buscaglia, who was known to
be a tough teacher.  He expected perfection and excellence, but in a quiet
humble way.  He never raised his voice, but would simply walk around the
room, and point to an area on your drawing, and nod.  That meant that area
needed more work.  Many times I thought I was finished, and he would
indicate I was just getting started.  He pushed all of us, and helped make
me the artist I am today.

According to him though, "a drawing was never finished, only postponed".
He always said you could come back to it, even years later and re-work
something.  I still hear his voice in my head as I draw...the basics
about line, lost edges, shading, etc, still rattle around as I draw.  So, I have
worked on this enough to make him proud.  I have spent hours
shading, re-doing, adding values, erasing, etc...and now, I
think I am finished!  At least until tomorrow....


For info on children's portraits in colored pencil or graphite:
sheltongail@hotmail.com