Haven't written for a couple of days but I have been busy painting in the meantime. The portrait is progressing nicely with initial strokes on the figure. Its quite tricky painting such detail with pastel stick so I have taken to wetting the pastel with a watercolour brush and painting it on instead. The body also needs to be put back into proportion as the upper body has shifted slightly to the left. I visited the local art group on Wednesday taking this piece with me and some other artworks. It was quite daunting because they all seemed very accomplished. There was a range of watercolourists, pastels, drawing, acrylics and oils as well as some mixed media. However, I left at the end of the session with some tips under my collar and some lovely comments and compliments. There was no other portrait artist as far as I could see but still plenty of experience to share. It has inspired me to keep going and try to get onto a portrait artist course. In the meantime I'll keep drawing away. I wonder if any other portrait artists start to obsess about facial features. When I'm in conversation with people I find myself focusing on their nose or mouth and planning how to draw it. I have even thought of drawing friends facebook pictures....mmm