My Very First Muse

One of my very first subjects for portrait sketching was Billy Holiday.  I felt an instant connection with her at a very young age.  I was obsessed with her music, her beauty,  and her tragic story.  I felt like I was her in one of my past lives.  I identified with her story and her pain.  I wrote poems for her...I felt like we were connected through space and time. 

In this first sketch, you can see that I was not so talented in the shading area but what I can I say? I was very young and my sketching powers were not yet quite developed.  However, I can still feel why I was so inclined to draw this photo of Billy.

Billy Holiday (Sketch 1995)

In this second drawing, I was very much intrigued by the level of detail to which I had to pay much attention.  These are the types of portrait sketching that moved me...those with high detail.

Billy Holiday (Sketch 1995)

I really can't remember which sketch came first but I did them both within the same year, at the age of 15 under the tutelage of a great artist, Mrs. Dodys, my junior high school teacher.  She made me see that art was something bigger than me and that what I was doing meant something.  She was one of the many teachers that nurtured and molded me into who I am today.  She encouraged me and made me see that this was not just a hobby. 

I would be no one without art. Pin It Now!