This pastel illustration was a liberating breakthrough for me.

I was able to find a new freedom and spontaneity by inventing straight onto the final drawing without feeling the need to do any of my usual preliminary sketches.

I don’t know what it all means… but between you and me I think it’s absolutely beautiful!… and needs no more describing.

This truly remarkable pastel illustration was developed from small preliminary pencil sketches.

I pieced them all together to create this new conceptual idea.

Having the conviction and courage to go outside one’s comfort zone and risk failure is what makes groundbreaking art possible. The personal rewards can go far beyond any monetary reward later on…..although of course money does help!

Sometimes it’s healthy to actively take credit for the progress we achieve in our life’s work, whether it be as an artist or in some other profession and to reward ourselves with self praise for a milestone outcome!

I just love lozenge shapes because they interlock aesthetically into a self contained square.

Adding grey touches throughout this illustration also helped me to integrate the whole form.

My aim was to make it as self contained as a finite universe would have to be.

This elegant, deceptively simple charcoal drawing contains subtle suggestions of people and animals.

The complete image is contained in one line. The line itself was deliberately blurred into the surrounding paper to give a soft rounded glow to the whole shape.

I was very pleased with this effect and used it as the preliminary study for my much larger and detailed oil painting called “Earthly Embrace”.