Post 39 of 92

Don't know what I'll do when (if ever) I reach post 92.  Start again, I suppose.

Well, have done my bit of procrastinating but as I've been on my feet most of the day concentrating quite hard during life drawing class, I don't feel too bad for zoning out for 30 minutes or so. 

Funny thing with portraiture.  It's hard.  Not funny, I know, but I don't remember it being this hard to get a close likeness to someone.  We had a male model whose finished portrait was a dead ringer for Vladimir Putin.  Another male model who has resembled Jack Nicholson in one sitting and Paul Newman in today's sitting.  Managed to fit in two portraits; the second one looked like a mug shot for a zonked out vampire.  Don't know how I'm getting it so wrong. 

The other week I drew the same (female) model 4 times in 3 hours.  By the fourth portrait I was pretty close - no cigar but at least a cigarillo. 

While Paul Newman was emerging from beneath my charcoal I got the giggles.  David was facing me and he has this look of a slightly impish faun anyway and, knowing how far off the mark I get, he knew I'd missed again.  I could see it in his eyes.  He has to hold perfectly still so I'm trying to hold in my laughter so as not to affect him which only made it worse.  Shirley thought I was crying and came to see what the matter was.  That was the cool shower I needed to pull myself together. 

Even so, despite my repeated failures I am just so glad to draw.  What a privilege it is to make marks on paper.  No wonder early man was driven to draw on cave walls.  It's a magical act. 

Day 2 of 92

3:49pm.  Spent the last couple of hours working on a nude study begun in life drawing class.  As usual with me, some of the drawing I quite like while other parts, mainly the head, which has become too busy and fussy, I heartily dislike.  Bah!

Had a call from Lisa of Friends of the Hound (FOTH).  She will be making an appointment to come and assess us and our home to see if we are a good prospect to adopt a greyhound.  Lester finished the dog run which includes access to the Aframe and it looks a treat.  Would've been nice to fence the entire yard but way too much money.

Had a lucid dream last night, probably the first  I've had in 30 years.  A lucid dream which I made into a flying dream...carrying a small grey and white kitten.  Even though I was flying, I couldn't gain much height.  Wonder what that says.  I sailed over hedgerows and fields but flying up into the stratosphere was beyond me.  I realized that in the dream but couldn't seem to do anything about it. 

The dream became lucid while dreaming a very complicated dream of lots of people coming over and sitting in my (strange to me) living room.  I didn't have any food for them but offered to feed their dogs.  Everyone was sullenly crowded together on the furniture.  What made it worse was I hadn't invited them so if they didn't want to be there that was their problem.  Not sure at what point I realized that I was dreaming and decided to ditch the stuffy living room to go fly over field and paddock. 

And it's 3:56.