It's a funny thing, being an urban sketcher I'm used to drawing in
public, out on the streets, but yesterday I was due to give a
demonstration of my pen & ink work in front of a local art suppliers
and beforehand I was very, very nervous. Whilst I have taught pen and
ink, I have never worked up a drawing in front of people, and was very
worried about the ugly duckling stage that it would go through.
Luckily,
everyone who stopped by was lovely. Some had come deliberately to see
me, others by happenstance and we talked about my art, art in general,
sketching, equipment, and Oman. Two people had been there, one for work
and the other on holiday - small world.
There was only one character who stayed for ages and was being purposely provocative including saying
"You could be a brilliant artist, but you won't be".
He felt my work was too safe and not experiemental enough. Maybe it
isn't very experimental, I may think on that, but as he has never shown
his work nor would he give his name, I shall not worry. With the
exception of him everyone was very complimentary.
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| Ready to start my demo day at Tindalls, Colchester. |
The worry about the ugly duckling stage was needless. I had put down the
outline beforehand and expected to reach it at some point in the day.
However, I spent so much time chatting to all the lovely people, that
in six hours I only completed less than an hour's drawing. You can see
the progress below (sorry about the green tinge, it's from the gazebo).
 |
| WIP stages. |
