Cody is one of my favourite Sktchy muses. He has a great face to draw and his photos are so interesting. This isn’t my best work, not having the best week pain-wise, but I do think it captures Cody’s personality very well, and I love that about it.
I drew Cody in my Midori cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
There is so much pain and anger in the world right now, I don’t really know how to respond to it all. My body responds with migraines, one after another. So my head still hurts but I’m still drawing as best I can. This is Ivanka, drawn from Sktchy,
I painted this in a Moleskine sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I don’t know this man’s name – his photo was posted on Sktchy by Christine and she tagged it “Scotttishguy”. What an awesome face to draw though. I’m not sure I did him justice.
I drew this portrait in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Unipin fineliners, painted it with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I’m always attracted by shadows. My portraits look flat until I start to paint in the shadows and it’s only when I begin to add those that faces come to life. So when I browse Sktchy for inspiration it’s always the photos with interesting light and shadows that jump out at me. Like the one I used for this portrait of the beautiful Diellza. You can’t see her hand but the shadow tells you very clearly that it’s there, shading part of her face from the sun.
I painted this portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I’ve been trying to access NHS talking therapy during the lockdown and it’s such hard work trying to navigate a system that makes no sense and I’m getting nowhere. The only other way I have of processing my emotions is to draw them out.
I drew Juliana in my Midori Cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
This is Sktchy muse Holly. I drew her in a Midori cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
Cody didn’t look sad in the Sktchy inspiration photo for this portrait but somehow all my portraits end up looking sad at the moment. It’s not deliberate, they just end up that way. They’re being affected/infected by coronavirus.
I used Zecchi watercolours and Prismacolor coloured pencils in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook for this portrait.
These are the very lovely feet and hands of Sktchy muse Caroline. My feet used to look like this. I was once happy to have what I thought were “pretty” feet. And then in 2016 I had a neurectomy to remove a small tumour from a nerve in my right foot and developed CRPS (which stands for Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome), a rare disease, as a consequence of the surgery.
CRPS can be cured if it’s rapidly but if it isn’t treated successfully in the first 6 months the prognosis is poor. NHS waiting lists in pain services meant that I didn’t get seen for 6 months, by which time it was too late. My CRPS had spread from my foot up my leg.
It’s a neurological condition which affects the way nervous system responds to stimuli – basically it over responds to any and all stimuli. So a light touch or slight breeze can feel excruciatingly painful. As you’ve probably guessed it also causes change in the appearance of affected limbs. My foot is misshapen now and changes colour when I’m having a freezing or burning pain flare. The freezing pain flare isn’t so obvious, but when I have a burning flare my entire foot can turn red, then purple and even black. It’s not a pretty sight.
CRPS can also mirror in the opposite limb and I have some mirroring in my left foot too now, though thankfully not in the whole foot. But part of that will also burn and change colour to match my right foot – I call it “coming out in sympathy” for my other foot. So I never, ever draw my feet any more. I used to when they were pretty, but no these days. But I hope I’ve raised a little bit of CRPS awareness by talking about it here – probably worth saying you can also get it in your hands.
I painted this in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi watercolours.
This is a portrait of one of my Sktchy artist heroes Mr Bandit. It captures my life so perfectly right now, since I mostly live it through a Zoom screen. I spend several hours each day remote working, having virtual coffees (with colleagues, family and/or friends) and participating in online classes. And then I spend an hour or two drawing and playing Animal Crossing on my Switch (yes, another screen) to keep me off Twitter.
I drew Mr Bandit in a Midori cotton sketchbook with Copic markers and Prismacolor coloured pencils.
I chose to paint Sktchy muse Na’channa today because I’m feeling a bit vulnerable. Painting her helped to exorcise a few demons 🙂
I painted this in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi watercolours.
drawing faces 