Drawing Away My Sadness

For the past three years, my main focus each day has been to care for Pooch: feed him every 2 hours, make sure he gets his myriad of meds on time, take him out to pee every hour, and, of course, snuggle him as much as possible.

Now that he's gone, I find myself completely intimidated by all this new-found freedom. I've cleaned the house top-to-bottom and put away the dog toys. Now what? I don't much feel like making jewelry - my heart's just not in it at this time. I started a drawing on Tuesday - I could only work on it a little at a time, since Pooch demanded I have an arm around him while he slept. I had no idea he wasn't feeling well.

Tuesday I laid down basic shapes. Since I first learned to draw, I've had difficulty with facial features. I made sure to get those right in the first stage.

Wednesday morning, I added the drapery of her soft silk poncho and some of the railing. This immediately helped "ground" the figure.

I had to leave the drawing at this point due to all the drama of Wednesday afternoon and my deep sadness all day yesterday. Still sad today, but trying to fill my day with what I love to do. I decided to go back to the drawing. I've always been able to lose myself in artwork, and this morning was no exception. There's something so "Zen" about sitting quietly, working the pencils and eraser, taking moments to step back and analyze progress.

I dug out the 6B pencils and went to town adding some contrast: I darkened her pants and blouse so she'd "pop" in front of the railing. Then deepened some shadows for added punch.

I think she's done for now. In the future, I'll add some soft misty background - maybe sand dunes and a touch of ocean, for that's where I long to be right now.

The original image I used as a model was a page from the latest Chico's catalog:

I was ruminating over what to draw next, when Marble Man exclaimed, "Ooooooh, you should draw HER!" while pointing madly at the magazine. So, MM, you got your wish.

Thank you, Everyone, for all your supportive comments on my last post (and all the hugs!). It means a great deal to me, and helped a lot.