Portrait of a Young Woman, acrylic and ink, by Kerry McFall

I finished this portrait today, and I really like it – but dang, it looks nothing like the lovely young woman it is intended to represent!  Also, as John Singer Sargent said, there is something wrong about the mouth… And I’ve reached that point with the painting that I’m afraid to put on even one more stroke.  But I learned so much just in the doing, and I spent hours in my Happy Place, completely absorbed in a tiny shadow, or a subtle color shift, listening to the voices in my head squeal, “Ooh!  That worked!” or mumble “Meh.  Try again.”  Simple pleasures.

Also I finished an assignment for Sketchbook Skool, another exercise in Not Quite What I Had in Mind, but then again, I learned that colored pencils alone just aren’t enough anymore!  Apparently once you’ve opened the Pandora’s box of mixed media, there’s no going back.

“Wash Up!’ colored pencil sketch by Kerry McFall