Sharon Golding Designs

I love drawing and sadly neglected my practice over the last few years.  I’m now trying to get into the swing of using my sketchbook for daily drawing practice.  I want to improve my drawing all round but am going to begin with portraits and figures.  Specifically I am starting with facial features. Now practising drawing eyes.  Using either graphite or pen.  I know, keep practising!  I’m quite pleased with my progress so far, but I’m a very impatient person and need to see results quickly.  I must learn to slow down and draw mindfully. I invested in the Bargue book to help me with my practice, as so many of my artist friends have recommended it.  The book is a series of plates designed to teach students how to draw and was originally used in the 17th century ateliers.  Now I’m not sure how exactly this is taught, but I figured if I worked my way through the plates then surely my drawing couldn’t help but improve.  Anyway, practice makes...

 After I finished working and retired I was under the impression I would be so busy with all my hobbies that I would never miss working. Well, yes I’m busy with my hobbies but I really miss my job!   BUT not for the reason you may think.  It’s the exercise I miss. Rushing about, being on my feet all day, walking, lifting, stretching, bending… all these things kept me fit.  Since retirement I’ve become a bit of a couch potato!  Most of my hobbies are sedentary which really doesn’t help my fitness.  Yes, I enjoy yoga but recently have become very lazy in my practise. As my waistline increased and my weighing scales screeched, I decided to do something about it. My new fitness regime includes Fast Walking daily, running up and downstairs plus a yoga routine.  The wonderful thing about yoga is anyone can do it, any age, you don’t need a huge amount of space nor any machines. It can be done on the yoga mat, in a chair or on the bed. As an ex-yoga teacher, I...