Drawing by Dan Pryor

Prime Minister

I am retired after 40 years in the accounting profession and have been drawing for about 9 months. Having never drawn with a purpose before, I found the process to be very challenging. Accountants like to ‘draw’ legible numbers in little boxes. After seeing some examples on youtube, I was fascinated with the hyperrealism of some of the portraits and still life people are able to do and unfortunately, was able to occasionally produce a drawing that people would say, usually questioningly, who they thought it was. They were correct about half the time. Undaunted, I press on. The pleasure of showing a portrait and have instant recognition of the subject is very satisfying. Drawing a person is very different from drawing a particular person.

All that being said, this course may not be for me. Imagination is not natural to me. But, there is so much I don’t know and getting feedback from people who aren’t concerned with my feelings is necessary to be able to grow in any field.

It would be fun to discover if this course could take a left brain with little art knowledge and create an artist with recognizable skills. Winning the contest could provide a platform for others to see what is possible.