I am forever grateful that in 2020 I signed up for Deb Weiers's "Wonky Friends and Critters" class through Kara Bullock's art studio. This was the best beginning I could ever have had to the whole process of portrait making, as odd as that may seem. It gave me permission to play, to try new media in combination with old favorites, to push outside—far outside—the boundaries that had previously seemed immoveable.
Every once in a while, I like to venture back to using some of the techniques I learned from Deb. Although I had been a contour drawer for many years, using a pen to do my urban sketching or flyer illustrations for the library, using it for portraits was a step beyond, and also using it in a free and easy way—doing double-line drawings, for instance, to loosen up the precision I expected from myself and have some fun. I also had painted in watercolor for almost all of my art-making years, but had never tried the neon-bright colors of acrylic inks, and those were a revelation. But Deb was the one who taught me to let the colors dictate the painting instead of the other way round, and to use unexpected colors to do the expected things.
So, today, when I wasn't feeling inspired to get dug into a new acrylic painting on a board, I decided to do a lighthearted drawing/painting of my friend Phoebe, who is deliriously happy (despite the political climate) to have moved back from chilly Virginia to warm and balmy Florida. She has been lobbying to return there ever since her husband's job took them up to the Capitol, and he finally got a job transfer back "home." Despite all kinds of issues with the move (their house deal fell through and they had to rent something and put half their belongings in storage for a year), there are nothing but smiles (and beaches and bathing suits) on her Facebook page.
So, in the wonky tradition of the class in which I actually met Phoebe (and so many others of my long-time online artist friends), here is "Phoebe Really Likes Florida!"
Uniball pen, white gesso, white gel pen, Daler Rowney inks, on 140-lb. Fluid coldpress watercolor paper, about 9x12 inches.
