Nande: is anger better for my mental health than anxiety?

This is Sktchy muse Nande, wearing hospital scrubs and basic PPE, or personal protective equipment, which is now the subject of so much political debate here in the UK because hospitals are running out and Public Health England has been suggesting staff should reuse some of it.

My husband is a resuscitation practitioner in our local hospital, so he’s currently training other staff to resuscitate & intubate, as well as working in A&E, ITU, in operating theatres and on COVID wards. When he comes home my daily questions are “Did you have enough PPE today?” and “Was anyone you work with diagnosed with COVID-19?” I’m trying to stay angry at the incompetence of the government because I think anger is better for my mental health than anxiety, which just consumes me… and it’s not hard to be angry at this pathetic excuse for a government right now.

I drew Nande in my Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers.

Danny

This is Danny. I didn’t really know what I was doing or where I was going with this Procreate portrait, I just kept drawing and it got darker and dirtier and messier. I had his likeness, lost it totally, got it back a little, lost it again, and ended up with him looking liked he’d walked out of a coal mine rather than someone half in shadow.

Lol! That’s what this drawing thing is like some days. I still like elements of the portrait and I’m sharing it so you know that some days drawing comes easily and others it’s a real battle. Today I really enjoyed doing this but the outcome is a lot messier than I would have wished for!

Milena, hiding

Sometimes you just want to hide away.

Thanks to Sktchy muse Milena for providing the inspiration for today’s portrait. It was drawn in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with a Unipin fineliner, painted with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Mussu in a Mask

To mask or not to mask is becoming more of a conversation every day in the UK, but they are still very difficult to get hold of. But you can make your own now, so long as you don’t need them to be medical quality – YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are bursting with instructional videos for sewing your own and even hacks for making stitch-free versions using scarves and elastic bands. I ordered a couple of washable ones from Amazon a month ago and they finally arrived this week so I have some if I need to go to the shops or chemists. But official policy at the moment is that they don’t need to be worn in public.

This is Sktchy muse Mussu. I drew her in a Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Richard

This is Richard, today’s Sktchy face. I’ve lost his likeness a little and made him look more melancholy than he does in the Sktchy inspiration photo, but I like the painting a lot nevertheless.

I drew the portrait in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with a Unipin fineliner, painted it with my everyday Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it off with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Calysta: Things I Miss

This is Sktchy muse Calysta. While I was drawing her I was thinking of the things I miss.

I miss small talk in the margins of meetings.

I miss passing the time with neighbours in the street.

I miss the sound of children heading to and from school through my open window and the distant hubbub of the school playground at playtime.

I miss pub lunches and chip shop suppers.

I miss days at the farm.

I miss not feeling scared, anxious and sad all the time.

I miss feeling in control of my mental health, my agoraphobia and claustrophobia.

I miss being able to just leave the house and go somewhere, anywhere, when I want to, just to remind myself that I am able to do that these days. Will I be able to do that by the time the lockdown is over or will I be agoraphobic again?

I drew Calysta on my iPad Pro using the Procreate app.

Ariana

How many of you, like me, feel like you’re disappearing from the world in this lockdown? We have no material impact on it any more. The only presence I have in the world is the one I have here, in cyberspace, through my words and through my portraits. And I feel so inarticulate when I write, at least when I draw I feel as though I’m expressing a little of what I’m feeling.

At the moment I feel as though I’m gradually vanishing, so that if, in a few days time, I disappeared completely, no one would notice. This portrait of Ariana expresses that feeling very well indeed, that the outer edges of me are already gone, melted away into nothingness.

I drew this portrait on my iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Avril Needs a Hug

This portrait of Sktchy member Avril captures very well how I’ve been feeling these past few days.

I drew it in a Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Sydney

This is Sktchy muse Sydney drawn in a Hannehmühle Nostalgie sketchbook. I sketched her with a blue Pilot ENO mechanical pencil and then hatched over that sketch with a purple Pilot ENO mechanical pencil.

I’m not feeling well today. I’ve got a killer migraine and a horrible flare up of both CRPS and fibromyalgia symptoms,so this was really all I could manage to draw. Hoping I’ll have more energy tomorrow.

More Zoom virtual backgrounds

I’ve been making more Zoom virtual backgrounds. You can download these from my shared Dropbox folder here for free but please don’t sell or use commercially.