The Forty Year Finish.

Mindful of the passage of time, I have begun the process of sorting and letting go of possessions.  Trust me, this will take years and I don't know if I can offload enough so that what's left when I make my exit won't still burden those left behind (I'm hoping not to make an exit anytime soon but who knows).

In recycling some old journals I found this ten-minute pencil sketch from 1983.  It was fading away.

I've always loved it and the memory it brought back, so I saved it and recycled the rest of the journal.  I traced the graphite with a Micron 005 and here you have it.

Then I decided to take it further and add some shading (below).  Did I ruin it or enhance it?  I'm not sure.  I know I'm glad I thought to take a photo of the original before I did anything else.

---

Iris, June 11, 1983 (graphite) and added to via a black Micron 005 and some shading, October 2023--forty years after I did the original drawing.

This was early on in my drawing career (not that I actually HAVE a drawing career).  Probably shortly after I had read Betty Edwards' wonderful book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. 

I remember exactly where I was when I drew this, even the time of day, and the scents and sounds around me.  The iris was a rich, deep purple and was embedded in a fabulously beautiful late spring garden in New York State.  It took ten minutes to draw and during that time my happiness increased a thousand percent.

Such is the power of drawing.

No matter how bad a drawing is, somehow it's always more powerful than a photo.  For me, anyway.

---