Nephthys76

As I am sure most of my friends here already know, I discovered, and began to participate in, Colored Pencil Magazine's monthly challenges. Since March, I have participated in 6 challenges, shown below: March: "Veiled" and April: "Wildflowers" May: "Rocket" and July: "Lilac Roller" October: "Sweet" And finally, November: "Apparition" Quite happily, I was informed last week that my drawing, "Apparition", was selected as the winner of the "Beginner/Student" category for November! I encourage anyone who is reading this journal entry, who has ever drawn, or wanted to draw, with colored pencils to look into these monthly challenges.  The ch

My next goal for measuring my progress in my drawings is to have one of my drawings selected for a "Featured" gallery folder in one of the groups I submit to.  However, I feel like I've reached another plateau in my progress, due to not being able to see and/or pinpoint where improvements could be made. Or if I can pinpoint what could look better, I don't exactly know why it doesn't look better, nor, therefore, HOW to make it look better. For instance, compare these: :thumb293924185:  :thumb383342067: The first drawing, "Reese Witherspoon" by ~Jeanne-Lui (https://www.deviantart.com/jeanne-lui) resides in the "Featured" folder on :iconfaces-monochrome: The second, "Matthew

It's been a busy few months for me, and I just realized that I have not written a journal entry since February - GASP! I've been spending a lot of time these days stepping outside my comfort zone, and not just in art. I am an endurance runner, having run 2 full marathons and 13 half marathons (along with dozens of 15Ks, 10Ks, and 5Ks).  This year I challenged myself to reach 3 achievements. 1. To complete the "Triple Crown" challenge, which is achieved by running 3 local half marathons in order, in 1 year.  January: Carlsbad Half.  April: La Jolla Half.  And August: America's Finest City Half.  So far I have 2 of 3, and I'm training for th