A brightened day

I have been reminded of a simple pleasure of life...receiving a package or envelope from a friend.  As a child, I eagerly awaited letters from my friends I had moved away from...but time passed and we drifted apart.  Letter have been a thing of the past.  But through Flickr and Instagram I have connected with some old-fashioned pen pals.  

I am trying to get better about writing to those who mean the most to me (I have sent out a few but still working on everyone else).  I never have anything interesting to say, it seems so it's easy to not write.  With Facebook, emails, phones, texts (none of which I am good at using) letters seem less about keeping in touch and more about an old-fashioned simple pleasure.  So, family and friends, know I have a goal of writing to each of you at least once this year...even though I have nothing interesting to pass along.  Hopefully it will brighten your day as it has mine!

Spring?

There is no time to really blog but just wanted to post a few little surprises I found on Saturday when I went to dump some things in the compost bin.  

Christmas drawing

There was no money for Christmas this year so I wanted to draw a portrait.  I scoured my files and found this one.  But it's from when he was still wearing glasses so I decided to leave them off in the drawing.  I printed it off in black and white to make it easier to see the shadows and highlights.   

It was the quickest portrait I've ever done.  I worked on it on three separate days, that's it!  I finished roughing in both faces and the hands before calling it a night.

 The next day, I had jury duty so I took it with me and worked on smoothing out the shading and started filling in the black of the shirts.

I finished it the day before Christmas Eve which was the last chance I would have had to work on it.  Whew!  I bought the frame at Goodwill some months back.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I loved it and it went to good use.  

I messed up on Adam's right eye.  I tried to fix it several times but it just wasn't having any of it.  Seems I always mess up an eye on these portraits.  He said he couldn't see it, even after I pointed it out.  But the rest of the face, I like.

And for me, I think it turned out well too.  But for some reason, I put this dark shadow under my hin, on my neck.  I have no idea why I put it there. :o\

 I am pretty proud of the hands.  I find hands even harder than faces.  I still need work on eyes and hair to make it look more professional.. Perhaps that will come with time.    Anyway, for now, I am happy with this one. :o)