A Person, Artist, Software Engineer, Geologist.

I like to show some of my "Work in Progress" photos, so other can see how I work and steps involved.  For my drawings, there is a process that I follow which involves: Taking a photo of what I want to draw. Add it my "To Do" list in the "Art" photo album on my iPhone / iPad / Mac. Crop (if needed) the photo for what size I'm going to draw (landscape/portrait, etc).  (Edits on the iPhone are non-destructive so I can always revert to the original) Setup my iPad and my paper on my table and start drawing.  Ink pen first. Then grey markers, till done.  That's it. Take photo of finished drawing and name and place into my artwork photo. Maybe show on Facebook, but otherwise update my ToddBlackley.com site. Repeat. They are not all winners of course but my "Good" rate is about 80%. I'm getting good at this process for my drawing and getting quite a few drawing under my belt. Park City Mine Series I've got my Barn series and I've been

I'll never be able to drawing and paint with realism, so I don't try.  But how to present effects to the viewer of something that I can't draw or paint? The good thing is the mind is really good at filling in the blanks of images and provide the viewer with with they think they are seeing.  In my latest painting, it's fur.  Fur is not something that I look forward or even know how to draw fur, so I punted and it worked. So taking the cat image from my drawing last time, I did an ink & watercolor painting of the same image. With only a few lines here and there and then only using a couple of colors (yellow, brown and grey) the effect is completed.   The resulting image is a Cat, with hints of depth and fur and texture.  All without being able to draw or paint a realistic image.  I'm sure glad the brain can fill-in the rest to allow my rendition to present the look and feel of this cat. Next on my list of to-do's is another mine building from the Park City, UT

Did an interesting "Cat" drawing today.  This came from a friend that wanted to see what I could do with a photo of their cat.  Now cats are hard.  Lots of fur, blurry edges and the like, but I had fun doing it. I put it in a frame for them and I'm planning on trying a watercolor of it and see what happens.  I'm using some COPIC grey scale (neutral) markers which I like, but they are pricy.  The good thing is that they are refillable and that helps bring the cost down.  It's the 10...60% markers that get used up the most because of their usage early in the drawing and the lightness of the shade. I had made a tracing of the image so that I could re-used the basic drawing (basic lines and shading only) for a watercolor version.  Works great.  I don't have a light board but I used the technique of taping the tracing on a window (or door) with the sunlight behind it and that is plenty to shine through the watercolor paper over it.  Amazing how bright outdoors real

The healing in my arm has gone very well, even though it seems glacial at the time.  After 8 weeks my sling is off and I can start using my right arm for "most" things.  I say most because the strength of my upper muscles is quite low from no usage.  Draw require very little usage of the upper muscles so back to drawing with my right. Here is the first drawing Post-Sling. It's of an old mine building on the Park City Mountain Resort.  I took a photo of it last summer when I was out there working on the yard / house in-between tenants. Here is the photo of it from which the drawing was taken from.  Yeah it's the same but different and everything is a bit off.  Hey, that's the way I roll on my drawings.  The ink + markers let the objects standout and show themselves rather boldly. I've got a number of other mine photos to draw and I'm also looking at using some different paper to see what effect it has on the result.  Always tweaking and making adjustments t

 I did it again, I broke a part of my body again this year.  Last year I broke my ankle fly fishing and that took a chunk of time out of my walking life.  Well, this year I broke my shoulder (fly fishing again) and that has taken a chunk of my "art" life (right shoulder of course). Broken ankles can heal slowly but they do heal and you can get on with your life.  Broken shoulders also take a while to heal, BUT, big BUT here, the rehab to get your shoulder back to where it needs to be (movement, etc), is vastly different.  They mostly do NOT do surgery for a broken shoulder unless there are lots of pieces and / or those pieces are moving around.  So no surgery for either of my breaks but with shoulders the repercussions of not moving this complex joint much causes the much longer recovery time and rehab work.   It's the impact force that fractures the Humerus bone that gets transmitted into the shoulder joint and causes trauma to the soft tissue that's the real issue.

The Art Learning Curve, well it's not just for art as it does apply to almost anything, but it applies to me right now! Yeah, I've entered the "Nope" phase of my artwork.  I've feel good about my drawings and can duplicate how I do it, but then there is the "moving ahead part" which is trying to expand and move forward with tweaks, changes and trying new things.   Nope, not working now. But at least I know that I'm in this phase and just need to keep going, doing and working at it.  Looking forward to the "I Know Nothing" phase that I feel coming up. Weeeeeeeeeeee. So it's just like anything, keep moving forward as the past is nowhere to live.

OK, I was told that my art style is "loose" which I've been told is something that artist strive for.  For me it's all "loose" as I don't think I could draw a straight line.  The good thing is, all of my non-straight lines together appear to result in something that people (and my self) likes. It happens almost everything I start on a drawing, I mess up.  this angle is wrong, these lines I missed, etc. but I keep going forward.  Art is not perfect but an interpretation and in my life I skip a lot of things (aka, details) to get to the larger concept which is what I end up with. If I was to try to draw perfectly then my style would ceased to exist.  Go figure. It's more of a reflection of my life where, yeah I miss details but the bigger picture is there. I feel for people that want, strive or need everything to be perfect.  I've read articles where that's a hard personality to have because of the stress on one's life.  From a software Eng

 My trip out here is almost over.  When renting a house there is a certain amount of work that needs to occur to keep the house up.  If you don’t it could get ahead of you and then you have a bigger mess to clean up.   For this trip the focus was the yard.  Specifically it was to reduce the watering costs and upkeep costs by starting to remove a lot of grass from the front yard.  We put in a gravel path from the front to the back with a loop by the apple tree.  Added some native plants and a drip irrigation section for them.  We turned off 3 of the watering circuits so the front / side sections of grass will die.  We also capped a couple of sprinkler heads where we want the grass to die, to be replaced with mulch.   But that’s not all we did, we also weeded, trimmed, mowed and re-mulched the yard to again reduce water usage.  That is a lot of shoveling and wheelbarrowing stuff around. The inside was better but did not survive unscathed.  The tenants (somehow) broke a hinge on the garag

Been vaccinated for a long time and it's hard to see how many people did not get the jab.  They are now reaping the results of their decision.  I could understand not wanting something put into your body.  I feel the same way, except the amount of research, testing and trials vaccines need to go through is extensive.  They go way over my "bar" of evidence.  And that is what I look for is evidence, not feeling or reading something somewhere. To this end I now am able to travel to Utah to fix up our rental house in utah (need to reduce water usage there a lot!) and then later for some other (local like) trips we have planned.  I still feel bad for the those getting COVID-19 but it's not like it snuck up on them or anything.   I do feel bad for those that are being impacted by the choice of others.  The medical field, kids, schools, service workers and the like that are being harmed in the lively hood if not even their lives. This is a quick trip to Utah to work on the h

As summer warms up the increased in water temperatures starts the clock ticking for that last of the stocked trout waters.  Too warm and fish don't want to eat as the O2 levels decrease as the temperature gets closer to 70.  Together with the spin casters harvesting the fish, there is fewer and fewer fish to catch. In these conditions I start my migration to higher creeks and into the wild trout waters of the GSMNP (Great Smoky Mts N.P.) and locally.  There will still be fish but they will be smaller as these creeks and streams are smaller and rocky. This latest drawing is from a barn known to the ABA (Appalachia Barn Alliance).  Lots of character in this one.  I've got a couple more to get done before Sandy (w/ABA) will select 5 for their Note Cards at the Art fundraiser.  I should also be at the show with some of my drawings. I did see some fishing news in the west that is telling of the times.  In Yellowstone that are stopping fishing in the afternoon because the water tempe

Man does not live by bread alone and they is true for black & what drawings.  So back to color I go.  I love watercolor but it's hard and each time I feel that I'm lost in the wilderness only to find (after letting my work sit for weeks) that some of it is not bad.   Still hunting for my watercolor style. Went driving to take some photos of an neat old building by the French Broad river in Madison Co. and to my surprise found it was being restored!  Even better, I met with the fellow old guys rebuilding / restoring it.  Got a complete tour of the outside and inside of the building that is about 1/2 done.  Very nice to see this happen and I hope my drawing / watercolor does it justice. I bought some cheap frames from Ikea of different sizes and now I'm working on doing some artwork to feel these sizes.  This watercolor I did for Bobbie and it's of a vase of hand picked flowers she placed on the porch table.  I titled it "Summer". But on to other thoughts...

 Maybe it's the summertime or the weather or whatever, but sometimes the days just go by without thinking.  I suppose that's the way it should be (?)  I make little lists for things that I need to do for the next day or so.  Not a log or task tracking, just a wee bit of paper with some items on it that I feel good about lining out.  Got a bunch of things crossed off this week.   None of the items where fishing! It rained a few days ago so the creeks and streams will be running high and silty for a few more days.  No fishing in these conditions. Even got a drawing done that I wanted to do.  What I did not get done is some watercolors.  It keeps getting put on my list but never seems to get lined out.  I'll get back to it one day.  Just need to be in the right mind set. It's not that we don't have plans, we do, but it's the time in-between plans that is the "Just Living".  Bought some new books on Amazon, ordered an inflatable Kayak from Amazon, waiting

True to summer I've been fly fishing a lot.  Always looking for a better fly pattern for a specific creek on a specific day.  It always changes. My fly of choice is shown to the right.  It's not pretty but it has qualities that the fish go for.  It's like a black gnat with grey wings but more importantly for the shallow streams I've been fishing, it's weighted with wire in the body.  This allows it to float in the water column for the fish to see.  I've tried nymphs but the fish appear to like my gnat way better. I make bunches of them (I lose my share to trees and limbs) and I've been catching bunches of fish.  North Mills, Cane, Rocky Fork and North Pigeon.   All clear and shallow (1-2' deep) with fish laying in the ripples between the rocks.  This is not for deep pools but moving water where they just hanging out for the food to come by. The main downside to fishing in these locations is that the fish can see you too.  So I fish upstream from behind t

My Barn Drawings have all been from the outside looking in, but here is one from the inside looking out.  Not unlike how there are multiple perspectives to almost everything. The main difference from the inside of a barn (well, these tobacco barns) is how the gaps between the boards are white and the boards are dark.  Plus you get to see the “bones” of the place and how they have worn over time and collected junk on the inside.   Back to perspectives, it always amazes me how many people can (or want) to see a single perspective on things that they care about.  I can understand multiple perspectives but I still have my favorites. Holding onto a perspective that ignores the facts is something that I can not do.  Your life has to have some foundation of truth, like burning coal and oil effects the lives of billions, my perspectives has to related to the underlying facts. Later….

There are many reasons I fly fish, but among them is meditative.  I was telling Bobbie that Fly Fish is like rock climbing in that I'm totally focused on the task at hand but it's less dangerous.  To which Bobbie asked my if I've every been hurt when I used to rock climb (vs Broken Ankle Fly Fishing).  Nope, good point. I fly fish instead of spin casting because I want to understand the fish, river, flys, etc. and not use a blunt instrument with its only goal of catching fish. I've been fishing up in Bakersville for the last few weeks.  The creek is small (~10 feet wide), clear with sections of ripples, rocks and some pools.  I avoid the pools as the spin casters clean those out and I focus on the remaining sections.  For these I used a dry fly.  This is where the fly rides on the top of the water and the trout comes to the surface and grabs it.  With this action you can see the fish "rise", break the surface and head back down.  You get to see all the action.

It's been just a bag of small things that have been going on lately.   Did a couple of new drawings. Getting hearing aids Tried my hand at mat cutting for framing my art. Great weather outside for hiking and fly fishing. I did a couple of drawings.  One was of the old RICE store on the way to Rocky Fork State Park in TN.  We go there a lot to hike and fly fish.  Very nice place and only about 20min from the house to the north. Did a 2nd drawing of part of a barn that I liked as it had a "Keep Out" sign on it, but the door is open and you can see through to the other side.  I just though it was funny and typical of old barns here that are wide open and you can see everything inside (nothing inside mostly). I, like most older men have hearing loss at the high end of our ranges.  I'm fine most of the time but in noisy places I loose conversations, thus the need for hearing aids.  Soooooo, I waited and waited and waited until now.  I hear and read about hearing aids faili

 First things first.  Here is a little (5x7 vert) drawing I just did of a sign on an old building.  Not a barn but you know, related.  Made out of week, seen its best days and has character. Now about my break from posting (with teeth).  It's all do (mostly) because my wife (Bobbie) got her new puppy and it has teeth.  Sleeps most of the time, but when not, watch out.  Need to watch "Pipper" as she is interesting in chewing anything and everything.  Lot's O toys and one eye on where she is and what she is chewing.  Always chewing.  Chewing Chewing Chewing. Our other dog (Barney) is very good with her and lets her beat him some something awful.  This helps a lot but man the chewing.... Needing to get back to fishing, I mean drawing and painting but these warmer days makes it a wee bit hard to stay indoors.  Between hiking, dogs, fishing and art work, there is not a whole lot of other things to do. You can also see that I've been doing some artwork in a vertical for

Did another barn drawing yesterday, but I'm trying some new things.  One is vertical format with some cropping of my photo that I took of the barn.  The size is much smaller (only 4x6 inches for the drawing on a 6x8 sheet of paper) and I was only doing some sample studies but the result turned out better than I expected. I had a photo of a barn with a stand of trees behind it but I was 1) not sure how to draw it and 2) I wanted the trees to stand out to balance the image of the barn. So I did a test drawing of the trees on the left using negative drawing (aka, draw everyone BUT what you wanted to draw).  I wanted to show the light / shadows through the trees but in a way to make the trees stand out.  And it worked. I then did the complete drawing on the right to see how it looked in a full drawing with the barn.  I thought it turned out really well.  Just as I don't show the complete trees, I also don't show the complete barn. Well, that's my 2-cents for today.  Just sh

 I really don’t have a clue what the future holds, but we can also make plans. My art work keep making progress.  My first (test?) printing (3 different ones) of 5x7 postcards of my barn drawings arrived and they look pretty good.  So good that I’ve ordered another printing of 2 other barns to make a complete set of 5 with different barns on each one.  When these come in I’ll linkup my online store for ordering sets.  The orders will be for sets only as it’s not worth it for orders of a single card. I’m working with the local Madison County Visitors center and they have bought some for the visitors center.  The barns are from Madison County so that makes sense.  The cost is minimal, but I’m working on that. I made the postcards large (still work with postcard stamps) 5x7 so that they could be frames if so desired (as shown here).  So the postcard is and is not just a postcard.   I’ve asked around (art stores, folk style) for what they would charge and the response is about 3-3.50 / car

It's been a while since I last posted anything, let alone a new watercolor.   This is what is keeping me busy: I created an order for my Art Post Cards and they are arriving today! Update my website for my future Store Front.   Evaluating PayPal vs Square.  Still working on this. Did an AT section hike in GA over Blood Mountain.  Perfect weather on the 11 mile hike up an over the mountain. Yard work.  Playing (but not juggling) with my new chainsaw.  Thinning out many small trees in the yard. Working to keep the lower acre and discovering a couple of new (dead) fallen trees. I keep a list that I make of things todo and a new watercolor painting has been on the list for a while.  Yeah I'm stalling but yesterday I got it done and it turned out pretty well. Now that my list is complete I get to create a new list and yes, a watercolor painting will be on it, along with a drawing and making an order for some Art Greeting Cards as well.  I ordered the Post cards from Vista Print, but

It took a while but I finally updated my website to reflect my current life.   ToddBlackley.com   My "past" life is just that, past.  Current life, more art and such.  I didn't put up my other information as that's for this blog. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I'll be busy with hiking, fishing, yard stuff and art stuff.  I just wanted to complete this site so that I have someplace to put all this stuff, well the better stuff anyway. I went with using WordPress at the WordPress.com site.  The site is cheap and I could redirect my GoDaddy domain to reference it.  Plus I got the learn the WordPress Block Editor.   Onward and ...... whatever.

 Drawing these barns has led me to reflect on life.  We have limited lifespans, will return to the earth and we change as we age and that shapes our lives.   Life is not perfect.  It's wonderful and imperfect.  I don't try to draw all the detail or even draw all that well.  I miss lines, dimensions may be off and perspective is not perfect, but the feeling comes through.  Thank goodness not being perfect is an asset sometimes.  In some fields perfection is required (surgeon, pilot, etc.) and there are checklists and backups in those areas that demand it (yes).  I worked in a profession where perfection was expected but not supported (Software Engineering).  There are always lawsuits where some company is not found to be perfect (Apple Batteries, bugs, etc.) even though what they are doing is incredible hard and consumers expect new features quickly.  Do not expect perfection. I once was in charge of a flagship product for a company and we had just finished coding.  The owner to

So here is another barn drawing.  It's not big or falling down, but it's on rock pillars and next the Ivy River and just looks so nice.  It needed to be drawn. Still working on other drawings, but with the return of sunshine and warmth in the air, I'm wondering if outdoor activities will consume some of my "art" time.  I'm not outside fishing today because 1) the rivers are still a bit high and need another day and 2) I was outside all day yesterday working on a trail and hiking with Bobbie. I've got tomorrow booked and I'm working on my plans for the weekend (I try to avoid weekends because of the crowds).  There are a couple of creeks / rivers that I'm looking at not too far away to check out.  I'll decide later on Friday. My mental time is also freed up as we got our taxes done early.  Our K-1 came through much earlier than expected and that is what always holds us up.  So with paperwork out of the way and my ankle in it's 6th month of h

Well, not me going feral but many of the barns in the area that have gone feral and headed back to the land. Their time has come and gone and they stopped getting love by the landowners as their purpose has long passed.  When tobacco was stopped being grown in the area, these barns lost their purpose.  Being open slat barns for ventilation, they where never meant to keeping the weather out.  Some like this barn was build on a weak foundation of a prior log bar whose beams have rotted and collapsed into the ground.   Most of these barns never had a foundation except for a few rocks laying around.  Not stable enough for the cold freezes of winter and thaws of springs.  No built to last but built for a time that no longer exists.   Catch them while they still stand. 

Here is a quick watercolor Marker painting done of a Cotton Gin in AL (I think) I friend took a photo of it and this painting is based on Andy's photo.  I did it using Winsor & Newton Watercolor Markers (and water brush pen) to try them out.  Interesting feel to them, but you need to check them with your specific paper as some act as if it stains and you won't be able to work the color once you lay it down. This first one is a marker study of the photo. This second one is the watercolor marker painting of the same photo. I like the feel of this painting.  The building size has changed, the colors, tilting and everything.  Almost a spooky bit to it, which an old cotton gin in the south in winter could have. Anyway, enjoy...

 If it's raining, I must be doing artwork.  Well, not all the time.   This last week we where down a car as my cars starting was going out.  It started with a single "click" and no start, then later it got to be "click", "click", "click" before my car would start.  Only a matter of time before it would be "click"s all the way down.  It was a bit of a wakeup call to have to schedule my travel with Bobbie and Bobbie being priority.  Only latest a few days till I could get my starter replaced, but still a wakeup call. Back to Barns. Here is my latest barn drawing.  I've gotten very used to doing these and have been enjoying them.  It takes about 2.5 hrs to complete a single one with a short break while doing them. My comfort level is getting high in creating these, but now I need to work on other styles as well. On my watercolor that I did for my brothers friend, I did the painting but it was not "right" and felt very unf

 I was doing a study drawing for a client (yes, that is exciting) and I thought that I would do a time elapse video of this process.  It turned out very well.  Very cool.  I did not do the same for the creation of the watercolor because the stress would be too much for me. Here is an image of the finished product and below this is the final watercolor painting. It's hard to explain to people how something is made until you can show a video of the complete process.  Looks easy, but it's a long road to get here.   Enjoy

Well, your mileage may very is the saying. I've got some Winsor & Newton watercolor markers and been using them on regular paper (Canson) and life is good.  Then I bought some nice Fabriano (from Italy no less) and that was good too, just not with the markers.  Maybe it's the sizing or the higher cotton content, but the markers appear to stain and penetrate the fibers a bit too fast.  So fast that you don't have time to work or lighten the pigment.   I created a video that shows this issue.  Just an FYI.

Just finished my second watercolor class that Bobbie bought for me.  It was a class handled through the art supply company www.cheapjoes.com  which is a great place to buy art supplies for really good prices.  They have 3 stores in Western North Carolina and are based out of Boone, NC.  Joe Miller (owner / artist) has a great store of how he started it all. Back to the class.  It was hosted on Zoom, was moderate in cost ( couple of hundred bucks), lasted 3 days with 3-1/2 hours / day.  Went very well, no technical hitches and was chock full of information and examples.  I got a lot out of it. I put a lot of stress on myself on classes.  It may come from decades of being a software engineer and getting things done fast and working.  I'm all about no stress now but the self pressure to do a new watercolor painting using colors, subject, etc. that I've not done before was tough.  My first go was on the wrong track so I canned it, but then had to re-start again.  No pressure! The e

Well it's been a long time from my first (and only thus far) watercolor class before COVID shut everything down.  I took a basic drawing and watercolor class this time last year and the pandemic hit just as the class was wrapping up.  I had schedule the intermediate watercolor class but it was cancelled because of the shutdown (good thing). Bobbie gave me an intermediate watercolor class from CheapJoes (they are based close to here for all art supplies) and it's all on-line now.  It will be 3 days for 3 hours / day starting Wednesday.  Looking forward to it. Until then, here is a quick watercolor of Bobbie's uncle David's house in Auburn AL (think football).  It's a very nice and relaxing place.

Or, it's NOT a Barn! This latest drawing of mine is that of a chain of local stores that used to (building still exist) dot the Appalachian mountains to provide basic items for the locals.  Way before freeways, highways and big box retails, the locals needed local / quick access to basic everyday items.  This local chain (I know of 3 of these) went by the name of RICE.  Don't know if this was a family name or not. Up here next to Asheville, old buildings are not torn down.  They are reused, if possible, or just left alone for use maybe later.  As in many things, later turns into never and they slowly decay where they stand.  This is true of the barns, store, cars and houses.  Great photo ops exists for these items.   I'm sure they all have great stories to tell. All of the old building have (had?) tin roofs so the weather takes a long time to wear them down. Enjoy.

Winter is in full swing and it's cold, overcast and a bit rainy outside.  Not Utah cold but Asheville cold where you don't want to do anything outdoors. To this end I've done a wee bit of a painting of Bobbie's uncles beach House on the panhandle of Florida.  It's at Indian Pass, between "not here" and "over there".  Really, there is not much going on in this part of the "forgotten Coast".  That the real name for this area.  No big condo's, no college crowds, not nothing much going on except just hanging out in town, on the beach or on the porch. You can go to the state park on St. George island (we used to own a lot here) and walk the beach and not see anybody for miles.  It's this forgotten. Here is a photo of the actual house from the rental company (he rents it most of the year). You can see from the photo that it's not very built up in this area.  It's like time slowed down about 50 years ago and never tried to keep

This is my latest Barn drawing in my series.  Very interesting barn with the mix of styles and structures.  This is typical of barns here as they started as animal (cows and horses) barns but where altered later for tobacco later.  Like much of life, you start out thinking one thing and change direction later in life. Enjoy.

I’m getting into the hang of doing my Barn series drawing.  Feeling normal even, but that does not mean it’s quick and easy.  Here is what I go through in doing one. I’ve taken a number of photo’s of barns and stored them in my iPhone / iPad / Mac.   I look them over during the course of a few days to think about which one I’ll draw next. I then go about my life over the next few days doing everything but do the drawing.  I fiddle with fly fishing gear, clean some in the house, re-clean up my desk and do a little computer work. I then get a piece of paper ready and lay out my pens.  I’ve got my setup with my iPad for the photo I want and everything squared away.  This adds about 1-2 more days.  Fright plays a big roll in all this.  Of failing, messing up, doing a bad drawing, loosing my style, etc. Then I start the drawing.  It takes about 1-2 hours from start to finish with almost no breaks.  Maybe a break between the basic drawing and the value and shading phases.  The big issue is t

 Moving along both in my art path and also with recovery from my broken ankle. On my medical recovery, it's going really well.  The bone has been forming lots of callus (you can see it at the base of the Fibula) and the soft tissue has also been going well.  It's the soft tissue where the tweaks of pain occur and the skin over the callus formation is just irritating.  The key is to keep moving as you need to move past the tweaks of pain to get everything moving again.  The pain will lessen and that is where I think I am now.  I did my first (dirt road) double wide flat trail hike yesterday down at Bent Creek.  Did 4 miles (with soaking my foot afterwards) felt good and afterwards (meaning the next day) my foot felt almost normal again.  I'll keep this PT going for the next few weeks.  But it's looking very good.   For the skin irritation I've started using some Aspercream on it a couple times a day.  Boy did that help!  I still have 3 weeks to go before my last Dr v

Well it appears that I have entered my “Barn” period.  I’ve done a number of them and I think I have many more of them before I’m through.  Working out the different tweaks for the style on them. This is an 8x10 ink + value marker drawing. It’s hard each time I start one because once I put the pen and markers down on the paper, the mark is there for good.   NO ERASING ALLOWED! I do not trace these.  I draw each one by hand from a photo I’ve taken.  Not everything in the picture is just like the photo.  I need to clean things up to get the picture right and somethings I avoid because they are too hard for me right now.  Simple goes a long way. No pressured at all.  So when do you know when to quite?  For me, I stop and think it’s done but always end up adding a little bit more to finish it off.  Even now I fight the urge to tweak them a little bit more, but I resist because, what’s done is done and I can only mess it up.  But the whole no eraser thing is big mental issue.  Yes, I flub u