It seems we all have settled into  a covidness with the wearing of masks and massive cleaning episodes. For me and my studio we are slowly getting to a 'new normal" . I have had time though to work on the illustrations of my children's book and to finally finish them. now we wait for the book to be published so the ball is out of my court

 With the Illustrations finally finished, however,I was somewhat at a loss at what to create next. I find when I have an involved project like a large portrait or a series of illustrations, it is all encompassing and very fulfilling so when it is finished there is a bit of a let down....

 I have started some smaller landscapes and am working on a very different art conservation project but I really needed the proverbial shot in the arm.  

Robert Liberace, an artist whose figure and portrait drawings I admire had a zoom demo which iIreally wanted to do, but did not try since I never seem able to attend his workshops- either I am too late or cannot afford it -so I did not attempt it . However he posted several reference photos of the model he used and I purchased them. She is lovely and was dressed in medieval attire so I chose one and did a drawing this morning. It needs more darks but so far I am pleased. I am planning on doing a painting but want to do several drawings first. Here is what I did this morning

I am pretty pleased with it though It needs stronger darks and work done on the hand. I will be doing some more drawings  of this subject.

In addition to this fun exercise, I have been doing some pastel landscapes of sunsets. One of these I tried on a surface of metal with a sound for pastels. It did not turn out too badly, although I personally think it is too stiff for my way of doing pastels. I have a commission for a friend of my sisters and I wanted to see how it would work but I think I will do it on Uart paper as the detail will be easier

I still need to put detail in the poles and the lines but at least you get the idea.

That is all for now. I will be discussing my conservation project in the next blog so till then