Awhile back, I decided to stop  paper crafting for a bit and focus my attention on my portrait sketching. It  was always a desire to learn to draw but I never took the time, and I certainly am not lucky enough to have a natural artist ability. When I was living in Mykonos, I had an artist friend who truly was amazing and made a fortune as a sketch artist for the tourists there. He sketched me on several occasions and I was lucky enough to receive one of those sketches, which to this day about 25 years later (OMG did I just say that!!)it is hanging on my bedroom wall. Anyway, the point to the story is that he inspired me to want to draw.. trust me to say that I have no natural talent is putting it lightly LOL~ Well since my so called early retirement, I decided I was going to explore all my artistic desires. I started with a class in floral designs, then switched to folk painting with Donna Dewberry, then stated scrap booking and paper crafting which I still love..then got brave and started to try to sketch..it was horrible.. then I found Darryl Tank, and let me tell you this guy is one incredible artist, but more than that he is an  awesome teacher! I invested in a couple of his lessons and here I am .. I try to sketch daily for as long as I can sometimes hours... So   here are some of my sketches .. thought it would be fun to post some before Mr. Tank's 5 pencil method and after.....

As  you can see, I truly  had no idea what I was doing, LOL! So here are the afters:

I still have a very long way to go, but am loving the journey and loving the ability to bring joy to friends and loved ones with their portraits!  Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and share in my artistic journey!