
I was enjoying drawing with Ida Anderson Lang’s 2025 New Year’s Drawing Retreat so much that I just kept on drawing after the retreat was over. A face was the subject for the retreat, a subject I almost never draw. But it was sort of fun, so I attempted another one, but I just couldn’t resist adding my favorite things to draw, which are animals—in this case squirrels. And wouldn’t you know it? The squirrels just seemed to develop halos all on their own!
I could have named this piece “Squirrel Girl,” but instead I’ve chosen “The True Nature of Squirrels” since we all know that they're angels.
What I’m trying to do with my drawings these days is achieve a finished piece of art without color. I am tempted, though, to add color to this one. It would be transparent color to let all the details of the drawing show through.
The problem is that I’m now kind of attached to this as it is. But surely it’s not so precious that I’m not willing to change it. That’s the way we learn. Hmmm. I wonder what I’ll end up doing.
By the way, although I’m happy with the drawing, I found that after I scanned it into my computer and then tinkered with it in Photoshop Elements, making the whites whiter and the darks darker improved the drawing. (No surprise.) I think I need to get my darks darker, maybe by using a 6B pencil at the end rather than stopping with 4B. But also, I’ve been using Strathmore Mixed Media paper, and maybe I should try a bright white drawing paper instead. I have a pad of Legion white drawing paper and it is brighter than the paper I’ve been using, so I’m planning to give it a try. I think value contrast is one of the most important elements in art. Pen and ink might be perfect for that, but I like the subtle gray scales of pencil.
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