Up to now, when I started a drawing, I worked on just that piece until it was finished. I discovered, however, that by the time I near the end, I start to rush. Sometimes I am looking forward to the next drawing already, sometimes I'm just tired of working on the current one; either way, rushing makes a poor drawing even if it started out okay. As I mentioned in a previous post, the simple act of expecting the drawing to take a really long time did wonders for my patience and my artwork. I want to keep improving, so I figured I had to find a way not to rush it.
An artist I know (the same who proposed the Mexican Wolf challenge) told me she works on several pieces at a time, all in various stages of completion. She recommended having at least three, each in a different medium, for starters. So I have my coral reef, which is colored pencil, I always have a charcoal/graphite drawing in progress, and for my third I chose to go back to ink. Three drawings, all different media and different subjects, one almost done, one part-way, and one just beginning. And it has had a profound impact on my patience. Realizing and accepting that they are long-term projects, that they will not get done anytime soon, and that what's most important is that I am satisfied with the results has indeed pushed me to the next level I was hoping for.
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