Pencil drawings of women on blue and orange paper 25 October 2025
After lunch and while waiting for electricity to be set up in the reiki and pranic building I had installed in the garden, I decided to draw a couple of female faces to add to those I had already drawn beforehand. I had a portrait of a woman on blue paper and one on orange paper so decided to add one of each today. I plan on having these framed and hung just above the bed in the main bedroom. For the bedroom where my stepdaughter stays on weekends, I am waiting to have her put her own artwork so did not do anything else than furnishing it.
In the corridor I had some of the papyrus paintings I bought in Egypt last year put up and the third bedroom upstairs would house the paintings and other artwork of my daughter Léa. The fourth bedroom downstairs would have either some more of the papyrus paintings or some other artist’s work. In the living/dining room, I had already hung works of Shakeel he painted in 2013 and the paintings are quite big so six of them have covered the whole room which is around 7 m x 4 m
It had been a while since I had drawn with pencils so the drawings are not my best but I think they will do for the place I have destined them to go onto. Even though my hand was not up to the mark, I enjoyed drawing these sketches and look forward to using some of the acrylic painting I just bought from Amazon to paint as it has been years since I painted in acrylic. There is a big mirror above the desk in the main bedroom, and I plan on painting some boat scenes in pastel blues to go with the headboard of the bed which is dark blue. I hope I soon find time to start these paintings as it has been difficult to find time with my busy schedule between work, daily chores, healing of others and just me-time to relax and resource.
I leave you with some music that I was listening to before and after drawing these female portraits.
I decided to draw a picture of my mother after some grief work I had been doing in relation with the fact that I had not been much present at her side when she was alive. I had done some grief work earlier, closer to when she had passed, but that was in relation to my sorrow of losing her. What had not been achieved earlier, as I had not yet come to terms with it, was overcoming the grief that when she had been ill, I had not been present as I was busy raising my three children alone and had to overcome several hurdles, both financial and time-based. That special grief that had its roots in guilt, was much more complicated to overcome.
When I was doing this latest grief work, I had a very sharp sense of my mother talking to me, using my pet name, and felt her presence very vividly to the extent that I could feel her around me. It was just like how she would hug us when we were children or teenagers and I could feel her tangible presence around me like during those times. I remember now with nostalgia those moments and am irked by the fact that I would just tell her to stop squeezing me and would wriggle out of her tight hug then. As a teenager, I did, however, adore my mother and would always run to the shops to purchase what she asked me to and do all kinds of other errands for her.
My mother was my hero and throughout my life, even when I was not by her side, it was always her example that would lead me to make important decisions in my life. I never stopped working whether pregnant or taking care of my children while juggling a part-time then full-time job together with my higher studies. She always told us to never give up our jobs, to never give our partners control over our stipend and to always privilege the children over the partner because it was the children who needed protection.
She was a nurse and a wonderful one at that. Whenever I went to the hospital where she worked, countless patients would tell me what a great nurse she was. At some point she was taking care of burn victims and I wondered how she could stomach day after day all the difficult images she had to see and the wounds she had to tend to. She was a beautiful person both outside and inside. I hope this portrait gives just an inkling of how beautiful she was.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I was listening to when I got the inspiration to draw the portrait.
Pencil drawing of my brother’s daughter 17 April 2025
It was recently my niece’s birthday and I had seen a few pictures of her published with the birthday wishes. She is a beautiful girl and was also a beautiful baby. Her picture as a baby appealed to me so I decided to draw her. I did not have much time as I was coordinating some repairs in the place where I will be living soon so it is not as well crafted as I wanted it to be.
I had a bit of trouble with the eyes as the glancing upward effect in the photograph had me puzzled as to how to reproduce it. I decided to stay with a somewhat level gaze instead of an upward one as I simply was not getting it. I used only pencils 4h and 5b for this portrait. I hope you like it.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I was listening to when I got the inspiration to draw the portrait.
Pencil drawing of a third smiling boy 3 April 2025
Smiling boy drawn by me
I found another beautiful photograph of a smiling boy in the database I had subscribed to and decided to try drawing him today. I feel that my drawing of boys has improved since I started with the small sad boy.
This time I decided to dedicate more time to the shading/blending and drawing of the hair. I am not sure the technique I used to make the sun-kissed hair stand out but I tried my best. I hope you like this pencil portrait because I really like it this time. I think I will start drawing adult male portraits in a few weeks after I have settled into my final accommodation.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I was listening to when I got the inspiration to draw the portrait.
Smiling boy drawn by me
Ruby Sinclair – Midnight Lullaby (Soulful Blues Ballad)
I found a beautiful photograph of a boy in the database I had subscribed to and decided to try drawing him. As I mentioned before boys and men represent a particular challenge for me as I am mainly used to drawing female subjects. I thought that I should still challenge myself and try to improve my drawing of male subjects.
Again, I was drawn to the eyes and concentrated most of my attention to them. The rest of the drawing, especially the T-shirt was done with more haste and less attention to detail. I hope you like the pencil portrait all the same.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I was listening to when I got the inspiration to draw the portrait.
I decided to use more of my Vellum paper to make a portrait. Having just recently done a sad boy, I decided to search the database I had subscribed to for a smiling young girl and chanced upon one that appealed to me.
Having dedicated too much time to the eyes in my last drawing and not enough on the rest of the face, I decided I would only do an outline of the eyes and complete them after doing the rest of the drawing. I think that it makes for a more harmonious overall face but I will let you be the judges of that.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I liked associated to the drawing.
Pencil drawing of a smiling girl by me
I decided to add hair on the left side as there was too little and it was not symmetrical
In the same facebook group for beginners in pencil drawings and shared by the same member I saw a beautiful photograph of a young boy three days ago and I felt compelled to draw it. I did not have much time as I had been doing other things including writing and I also did not want to use coloured paper. I had seen somewhere a lady comment on the fact that she had used Vellum paper so I searched for it on Amazon and got it delivered to me yesterday. I was too busy though to do anything yesterday evening but I got time today after 5 pm to start drawing the boy. This was a particular challenge for me as I usually only draw female subjects and am not at ease drawing male subjects.
I started out with the silhouette as usual and then concentrated on the eyes. I think I got too focused on them and then a lot more focused on the right eye which unfortunately I drew bigger than the other. By the time I had got down to the rest of the face, I was starting to get impatient and after taking some time for the nose and mouth, I realized at the end that I had scarcely paid attention to the cheeks, chin and neck. As rash as ever when I start getting bored with something (a remnant of my hyperactive self), I decided to just abruptly end the drawing and just coloured the shirt with big strokes that I then blended. I think it also may be because of how the music made me feel at the end. I hope you like the pencil portrait all the same. I will also post this on the facebook group.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I was listening to while drawing.
Pencil drawing of a boy by me
Beyond Borders - Dr L Subramaniam, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham & Bindu Subramanian
I had joined a facebook group for beginners in pencil drawings and chanced upon a photograph yesterday that I found intriguing. It was shared by a member of the group who had attempted to replicate it in a drawing and was successful to an extent. I realized that it was a difficult image as it lacked symmetry, and many features had a downward trend increasing the complexity of the drawing to be made.
I decided to draw it myself today to see whether I could replicate, to a point, the photograph. I started off with a coloured paper and regretted it as there were highlights that would have normally been done with a white pencil but this was not possible with the coloured paper. I still thought it would make sense to use the white pencil for the highlights and the effect is a strange mixture of realism and cartoon-like impressions where the white pencil markings were made. I hope you like it all the same. I will also post this on the facebook group.
And as always, mixing the visual, sometimes the spoken but always an audio of the moment, I give you a song which I was listening to while drawing.
Pencil drawing by me
The below is the photograph used as reference for the drawing
I am back to drawing again with feltpen colouring of a musician which I finished yesterday but did not have time to post. I spoilt a bit the nose by leakage of darker colours into the earlier highlights but I still like it. I hope you will enjoy viewing it.
Here is a song which goes with the subject of my drawing.
Watercolour painting of an elephant 23 February 2025
Aquarelle painting of an elephant by me
As I said yesterday I would try the watercolours this Sunday, I decided to go ahead and change the subject, choosing an elephant instead of a woman. The sky was overcast so I did not have a problem staying in with my paint. I kept trying to make sense of how the strokes appeared and getting annoyed with the blending as I had clearly lost my knack for it and so abandoned totally the idea of painting alla prima. I chose instead to paint each colour separate from the other with just a few blending strokes here and there. I hope you like it all the same.
I am leaving you with another wonderful song “day after day” by this lovely young lady called Elyanna.
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