My best drawing so far

These days, the little bit of time I have for art, I tend to experiment with watercolours and acrylics. But, a few weeks ago, I decided to go back to drawing. One good reason for this is that you can do a little bit of drawing every day without any big effort- all it takes is 1 piece of paper and a pencil. And also, I felt I needed the practice - I did a few doodles when we were in New York (Bryant Park is great for that - you can be sitting at a table and draw someone who is sitting two tables down without being noticed), but they were not very good.

So I set myself the task of doing a drawing of Brendan - I find that's the most challenging task, drawing someone you know and love. Or so my left brain keeps telling me, at least. The right brain just sees interesting lines, shadows, patterns, and doesn't care what it is looking at.

If you're wondering where this Right Brain/Left Brain stuff comes from, it's from Betty Edwards's book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". This book was recommended to me by Máire, and it was the best art-teaching book I ever got. Thank you, Máire! Like most adults, I thought I couldn't draw, until I tried this method. I might not be very talented, but I've learned a lot from this book.

Anyways, judge for yourself - here is the drawing of Brendan (without the glasses - I didn't do it as a live drawing - I'm a bit too slow to ask anybody to sit down and pose for me. I did it from a picture I took on holidays. And I decided not to draw the glasses. I'm not Louis Le Brocquy, but I can use artistic licence all the same.):