Happy New Year!

My December break is over and I’m sure it won’t surprise you that removing this commitment from my plate during the busiest month of the year was revolutionary — enough so that I am planning to do it again next December. But with that said, it’s sweet to be back.

©2024 Elizabeth Fram, Watercolor, 14 x 12 inches. I’ve been working with watercolor during our live drawing sessions. It’s very humbling. I’ve learned from watching Portrait Artist of the Year that having a photo of the model during the session can be very helpful, if they’ll allow it. A picture on my phone allows me to zoom in on facial details – especially around the eyes – that I can’t see from 15-20 feet. Later, in the studio, having the photo gives me a shot at a second practice round, from which I often learn even more.

Before I go any further though, many thanks to those of you who sent notes in support of my pause and for expressing your hope that I would return. It meant more than you can know.

This and the following pictures follow a second attempt, this time back in the studio. Here, a quick wash maps out the general dark areas, giving me a basic structure to work from.

So now that we’ve all arrived on the fresh page of 2025, what’s up your sleeve for the year ahead? I’m sure you’ve been thinking and scheming about it.

I used a Pitt Oil-base extra soft pencil by Faber Castell to loosely rough in features. Its rich black marks are much like charcoal, yet glide on the paper and over the watercolor without any dust.

While I mull over my own future projects, most of which aren’t fully imagined yet, I’m glad to have a holdover piece to dive into post-holidays. It isn’t far enough along yet to share here now, but I’m hoping it will be finished by next time. Anyway, I wish I could remember which writer it was that coached it’s best, at the end of each day, to leave your work at least partially unfinished so that you know exactly what to do when you get back to your desk the next morning — a brilliant tip.

Adding Neocolor II’s over the previous pencil and watercolor layers, while judiciously running a wet brush over some of those marks, gives a sense of vibrancy and looseness that I quite like.

It’s a lot less intimidating after any respite to just carry on with something already in the works than it is to face the pressure of starting something completely new. And by the same token, it’s much easier to begin new work directly on the heels of finishing a previous piece, thus taking advantage of the full head of steam you already have underway. In other words, use momentum to maintain momentum.
And most importantly, keep going!

©2024 Elizabeth Fram, Watercolor, Oil base pencil, Neocolor II, 9.5 x 8.25 inches. The final shadow over the right side of his face makes the lighter areas pop. I’m coming to really love using Neocolors because they offer the best of all worlds: strong color, the ability to make energetic marks as well as to create a wash.  Even though the original watercolor was done in situ and this one in the studio, this second drawing feels a lot more immediate and successful.

✷

On a completely different note: Dipping into Substack can be just as inviting as the idea of sitting down with a full box chocolates. There’s a lot of interesting and inspiring content to devour, but absolutely guilt-free. I am so happy to have found Canadian painter Harry Stooshinoff there. Love his work, love his ideas. I’ll leave you with this thought of his, which I think is a very apt way to begin the new year:

So much water under the bridge. At a certain point it doesn’t even matter if the work is good or bad. Obviously we try to make the best work, and move it in the direction we think it needs to go. It’s utterly stupid to do otherwise. But it doesn’t matter much how it is accepted, sorted, or judged. It matters only that it is made.