Tonight band practice was canceled so I was at a loss as to what to do. After a great amount of roaming around the house, stoking the fire and general shuffling around, I decided to get the pencils out and work on the latest project. I took a picture of it and as you can see, it continues to darken as the pencil strokes continue to add up. (Note: The actual drawing isn’t as dark as this photo makes it appear.)

I was questioned recently as to the reason I do the type of drawings I do rather than something that would readily sell to the general public. In a word, passion. When I choose a subject, it is because there is something that draws me to it. As I worked tonight, I studied the eyes of my subject so deeply that I found my face two inches from the paper, only separated by reading glasses and a magnifying glass. Every line, every shade of the skin I attempted to extract and place onto the paper. This drives me. To watch, almost from outside me, the unfolding of the image over time from a few lines to something that pleases my eye, to get lost in the image as it continues to unfold then coming to the realization that hours have passed, these are the things that soothes my soul.

On the contrary, to slap  something onto paper that would generally appeal to everyone holds no motivating power over me….. money or not.