Back to the Basics

The past couple of months have found me working hard on getting new paintings together for my upcoming show at Hillyer Art Space in March. And I have been working hard: sketching, planing, prepping canvases and have a bunch of paintings underway.

On Sunday I decided that I needed a break from my intense routine and started working on some new rough sketches for the next batch of paintings I want to finish for the show. I've been drawing and drawing and drawing (or trying to draw) for the past couple of days, but things aren't coming out the way I would like. So last night I decided I needed to clear my head and go back to the basics and draw from life.

I did a quick self portrait and started to feel good, like I was relearning how to see. It isn't perfect (the eyes are a bit off due to slight shifts in the pose and I didn't pay that much attention to my hair and beard), but I feel like its a good start. I'm hoping to do a few more
of these before I dive back into the routine!