Confessions of a serial photo tracer.

And why Pie in the Sky is so damn Delicious.

Color study for my reboot of Pie in the Sky 2023.

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Pie in the Sky study from 2013.

Pie in the Sky oil painting from 2013.

 
When I created the painting Pie in the Sky in 2013 I had already been studying painting for a few years, but I was still really frustrated with my drawing skills. Frankly, I just didn't enjoy the practice because the results were often poor. Who loves sucking at things, right?

I'd been leaning very heavily on various methods of transferring an outline of my reference image to the canvas to guide my painting, and that resulted in leaving my freehand drawing skills very weak. It was uncomfortable to face, but I soon realized that I could never achieve the expressiveness that I admired in the work of my peers without overcoming that hurdle.
At the time it seemed an impossible thing to achieve, to cross the gap from where I was in my drawing study to where I wanted to be. A Pipe Dream, you know…nothing but Pie in the Sky.
But I actually think it's good to dream big. I also still think drawing is really hard.
Fortunately there are lots of free resources online that can help with that.

Pie in the Sky was part of my first year of freedom from the constraints of the fixed outline. I learned to truly love drawing in that year, and I am excited to revisit this theme of Dreaming Big a decade later.
I can't say I have mastered drawing, and I may never truly get there, but I have certainly made progress. Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do!
I'll keep you updated on the progress of this new project. In the meantime, 
I temporarily have prints of the original Oil Painting
and the NEW Study available.

New studies for Pie in the Sky 2 with improved freehand drawing skills in action.

What is YOUR Achilles' heel when it comes to your work?
And do you have feelings about using mechanical means to transfer a reference image?

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