Disappointing Days

I’m not sharing any artwork today. Why not? I’m not sharing because I’m not happy with anything I drew. I did my “Shapes and Forms” project — managed a fairly good rectangular block, but nothing worth showing off. Then I moved on to a lesson about using shapes and forms to break complex subjects down. The reference used was a skull. I’ve drawn skulls before, but for some reason I guess I just wasn’t in the mood this morning. My skull looks clownish and comical. Oh, well. Yet another lesson was a re-introduction to portrait drawing. I’ve never been great at portraiture, although I enjoy trying. I didn’t enjoy the drawings I made today, though. I’m just too out of practice, and maybe again, I was just a bit out of the mood for doing much of anything here in the studio.

I could also use the excuse that my eyes are bothering me — which is true — but that really is just an excuse. I looked closely at the skull reference photo, couldn’t distinguish all the details, and just drew what I could. And what I drew was awful. Too awful to share.

With the portraits, we weren’t using reference photos, just “drawing from imagination” as a way of learning basic facial feature proportions. I managed to get all the features in the right places, more or less. The eyes in one subject were a bit too close together, I think. Again, I just wasn’t feeling it.

So instead of sharing artwork today, I’m just throwing out a question. What do you do when you have disappointing days with art?

My plan is to close up the studio, get outside — the weather is actually lovely this morning — and take care of a few errands. I’m just going to forget about “doing art” for the rest of the day. Maybe my mood will improve.

So, here’s another question, and I’m not sure which led to what. Were my drawings awful because I just wan’t in the right mood? Or am I in a down-hearted mood because my drawings were awful?

I think the answer is “Probably a bit of both.” I wasn’t in the cheeriest mood when I came to the studio. It’s been a busy week. I didn’t sleep well last night. Maybe that’s where it started. I hoped drawing might cheer me up a bit, but instead, I found myself spending more time erasing than drawing and never coming up with anything worth my time and effort today.

That said, I’m heading upstairs. I’m going to get outside, enjoy the weather, and take care of a few things in town. Surely tomorrow I’ll be in a better mood, and surely it will be a better day in the studio.