I like drawing people. It is a meditative practice that helps me see my subject clearly. After the first marks are made, I am so busy looking and drawing that other thoughts fade away. I draw on my iPad and take a traditional approach, making a sketch of the image and building up the detail just as if I were drawing on paper. I prefer drawing from life, but in the last year I am content using a photo or attending a session on Zoom.

This image comes from a project I developed for a woman and her 11 year old granddaughter. We have spent the winter exploring drawing on the iPad via Zoom. Both of them are talented artists already and want to explore this new media together. In this project we started with a sketch and are currently creating a variety of different finished images from it. My student provided the original photo. “A Coat of Many Colors” is my first variation.