Slowly but surely . . .

I started a new drawing before we traveled to Columbia for Don's doctors' appointments earlier this month. Usually I rush through a drawing/painting, but this time I kept my urges in check (pretty much) and planned ahead for what I wanted the final version to be. In the middle, it seemed as though I was doing a "paint by number" image because although I sketched in the entire composition, I worked on it a bit at a time. In my reference photo the light shining through our dining room window highlighted the elephant, some of the eucalyptus leaves, and the lamp base. That was what I hoped to capture. I waited on filling in the lamp base until last because it made me really nervous! When I finally addressed that portion, Karen Deeds (my mentor) gently let me know that my ellipses were not too great! So I erased them and went back to the drawing board. That was a really good lesson because I learned that even multiple layers of watercolor pencil can be erased (pretty much)! They are now somewhat better and the drawing is nearing completion. I thought it would be fun to share how this project progressed. If it turns out well, I plan to enter it in the annual Senior Art Show at Missouri State -- I'm toying with the idea of titling it, "Don't put Baby (elephant) in the corner!"