inspiration monday

there's a lot to be said for giving yourself permission to take a rest......i had visions of reading books, catching up with old friends, shopping at my leisure......but every time i sat down to "rest" i'd get distracted by one of the many things that needed to be done in the house, and as a result, instead of taking a breather, i'm absolutely exhausted!  one of the things i did treat myself to, though, was an inspiring girls weekend getaway to orlando for a drawing workshop taught by lettering artist kristin doty.  we started out by introducing ourselves to our pencils......

and then we got into all of that mind-bending left-brain/right-brain stuff.  kristin gave us an image that was upside down, and she told us to "draw what you see, not what you think it should be".  by seeing images as nothing more than a set of lines, it's a lot easier to draw what you see......rather than seeing something as a "face" or a "foot" (and knowing that i'll completely freak out because faces and feet are hard to draw!).

when we were finished with our drawing, (and after a mini break to quench our left-brain/right-brain with mega-quantities of chocolate) we were allowed to turn it right-side up and a sweet geisha girl was revealed!

then things got really scary interesting.....just when my left-brain/right-brain had entered the no-brain zone, the next challenge was to draw our hand.  yikes!  i have lots more shading, highlighting and general drawing to do on all those craggly lines and wrinkles.....and maybe add one more important thing......

the perfect finishing touch.......heeheehee.

{drawings done with an HB and 4B pencil.

heart added via the magic of photoshop.}

**thank you SO much for continuing to visit my blog while i was on break.  

your heartfelt comments made my day!

you are the bloggy best and i appreciate each and every one of you!!!   xox