This month I have concentrated on laying a ghost to rest, well, a couple actually.
My new painting Highway to Happy (below) is a significant one in my art journey and worthy of a new blog post. Rightly or wrongly, I regarded it as a personal point of principle.
So the backdrop to it is many years ago, when I first started out as a professional artist, I had a go at this idea and it ended up in the bin. The only painting I have ever thrown away.
I left the idea alone to sit for ages. It kept goading me. And then I thought I was ready to have another go at it one evening recently. But by 1am I had painted over it in frustration. No doubt recounting the original experience and resolving that it would always remain my nemesis.
Then I stopped thinking I was on a war-waging mission, had a word with myself, and started enjoying the process instead. Me and my painting called a truce and decided to be friends.
Oh, and it sold within three hours of going online yesterday! This particular ghost is now nicely buried thankfully. Adore the therapy that a long, lonely walk in the woods can bring. This is my homage to that serenity. And it would seem I have found my true path to happiness in more ways than one.
Another thing haunting me as an artist that I thought it was time to revisit was the first sketch portrait I was commissioned to do back in 2020.
I'm a painter not a sketcher, so was rather taken aback when I was asked in lockdown to do a sketch portrait. But I took on the challenge and gave it my best shot at the time.
However, it has always bugged me that I could do better. Plus, I wanted to see how my skills had developed over time.
So, this is the 2024 version.
And this is the 2020 version for comparison.
I will be sending the updated version to the couple in the pencil sketch as a little thank-you for the faith they showed me so early on in my art career.
In the spirit of always growing and learning, I am about to embark on another fun week of sketching with ace artist Adebanji Alade, otherwise known as the Addictive Sketcher, over the Easter holidays, so I'm hoping my drawing skills will keep moving in a positive direction.
And, just for the record, I have this week been commissioned to do another sketch portrait. Gulp! Less scary than the first time, but still scary. What I'm finding is scary is good. Scary is where you grow and push yourself to new horizons.