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 ©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Cate on her Morning Nap. Graphite in 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook. Cate is four months old now. The time really is going by quickly and she is already so much different than when she was born. She has been trying to roll over for the past two months and she finally managed to do it last week. I am thankful for her every day!  ©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Sierra. Watercolor, 10 x 8 inches. Awhile ago (longer than I care to admit), a relative asked me to paint a portrait of her granddaughter in watercolor. At the time, I was hesitant because I had never painted a portrait in watercolor before, but I said yes because I didn’t want to disappoint and I didn’t want to acknowledge that there was something beyond me. I started making sketches and ran into trouble immediately. Then I shelved the project thinking I needed more practice on various aspects (drawing children, mixing skin tones in watercolor, etc.). But I never ended up feeling confident enough to start. It became awkward to see this relative at family functions. “How was the portrait coming along?” she would ask. I felt guilty because I knew I hadn’t started on it. It was only recently that I decided that I needed to do the painting, no matter how bad it came out. I don’t want to be a person that makes empty promises. So I made the painting over the course of a few days, to the best of my ability. I know there are a multitude of issues, but in all honesty, this probably isn’t bad for a first attempt. I would love to repaint this same subject once I take a few watercolor classes and get some expert instruction. But for now, at least I did what I said I would do! I am vowing never to let this happen again. It’s better to be honest or say no than to put myself in a situation where I feel overwhelmed and less than authentic.
 ©2011 Carolyn A Pappas, Lizzie. Graphite on Bristol Board, 8 x 8 inches. A portrait of my baby niece made as a gift for my sister. She and Cate are already friends even though they are so different in personality. Lizzie has the most dainty whimper of a cry but Cate has a powerful set of lungs and doesn’t hesitate to use them! I posted work in progress shots of this drawing in my last issue of Delicate Paperwork. If you are interested in seeing more behind the scenes images from me, you should subscribe. I’m sending the February issue out on Wednesday where I’ll be showing you a sneak peak of what I’m working on for the upcoming Twitter Art Exhibit.  ©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Cate (12-27-2011). Graphite in 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook. My girl is two months old. I’m looking forward to getting to know Cate better over the upcoming year. I hope all my readers also have a year full of blessings.  ©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Baby Cate. Graphite in sketchbook.  ©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Cate Sleeping. Graphite in sketchbook.  ©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Right Hand. Graphite in sketchbook. Baby Cate arrived last week and I’m finally getting into the swing of things enough to make some sketches while she naps. I am no expert on baby portraits, but I will definitely get a lot of practice over the next few months as I’ll want to do plenty of sketches of my precious baby girl. I am so lucky!  ©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Katie in Profile. Graphite in 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook. This drawing is based on a photo where Katie is standing on the bow of the boat looking over the lake. It would make a really nice portrait done in colored pencil if I can convince myself to get started on it!  ©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, At Ease. Graphite on Bristol Board, 8 x 10 inches. I started this portrait back in September, but I put it on the shelf and didn’t work on it for months. Finally, I decided to finish it off so I could move onto other things with a clear conscience. I did remember to scan it at different stages of completion (see below). The baseball cap was my favorite thing to draw as I loved the strong contrast. My intention was for this to have a more sketchy look, but I ended up adding more detail than I had originally intended. Even so, I am happy with it, and it bears an excellent resemblance.
 ©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Brothers (11-23-10 sketchbook page). Graphite in 9 x 12 inch sketchbook. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’ll most likely be offline until Friday as I’ll be busy with Thanksgiving prep, although I’ll still be making drawings to show you when I get back. This year, I am most thankful for my family, and that I won’t have to go anywhere near a TSA agent to be able to see them.  ©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Tired Baby. Graphite in 9 x 12 inch sketchbook. Last night I made another drawing of a baby for practice. I originally wanted it only to be a quick sketch but ended up spending much more time on it than I intended, probably because I almost never draw babies and I’m out of practice. Also, I actually know this baby in person and I wanted to capture her likeness (it’s pretty good but not perfect). I’m sort of sick of portraits after this one though so I think I will try to do some other types of drawings today. A far as the Art Every Day Challenge is going, I have been faithful to the challenge by doing artwork every day, although I’ve had some disappointing results for some of my drawings. Even so, I am pleased with myself because I’ve done more work than usual and also have more good work as well. In that same line of thought, I decided to join NaNoDrawMo, which is a flickr group based on NaNoWriMo with the idea of making fifty drawings (or paintings) in November. I’m honestly not sure if I will be able to meet that challenge, but I know that I will be more prolific, which is my ultimate goal. I also thought I’d share some blogs that are new to my RSS reader in the past couple of weeks:
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Copyright ©2012 Carolyn A Pappas - All Rights Reserved |
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