Pencil & Paper

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

The cast on my left forearm was removed this morning. It was truly an exciting moment. It has healed nicely but needs physical therapy to get back to its usual functioning. Right after I got home from the hospital, I realized I did not want to look at my limp arm all day. So I drove to Keene, New Hampshire where there is an art group that meets on Thursday mornings. Artists bring whatever projects they are working on, whether it is a watercolor, as I usually work on, or a lovely colored pencil drawing of a still life, as a woman across from me was creating. Another person was painting a garden scene in acrylic on slate.

Since my arm is tender and it was really windy, I did not want to carry much, so I threw in my L.L. Bean bag a sketchbook and pencils. In a half hour between introductions and conversations I did this little drawing of an older woman from a photograph in Vermont Life Magazine credited to Chris Cammock. The others are quite impressed with some my watercolors, but they were not familiar with my portrait drawings! This one does seem to capture a sense of the model's presence and connection with the viewer. I did the entire drawing with one HB pencil, and it did not require an eraser. I wanted to make use of my time doing something creative and this worked for me.