A (very rough) concept drawing

Color Concept Drawing
pen and oil pastel
11x14

It's been a while since I had the gumption to tackle a drawing on anything larger than my little sketchbook, which is only about 5"x7".  Yesterday night was a lazy Sunday night, and truthfully, I didn't feel like doing anything at all.  The February blues would have me hibernate until St. Patrick's Day if I let them.  But, it wasn't quite bedtime, so I took about fifteen minutes to sit at my actual drawing desk (it's rather funny how little I use it), pull out a large pad of drawing paper, and see what my recent experimentation with the equine form would look like in Fauvist color.

Immediately I sensed that my form was off.  My hand-eye coordination has become much better at approximating perceived shapes, but that was not the case last night.  I can live with the anterior of the horse; the photo was of a Quarter horse, with a smallish head and stocky, muscular neck and shoulders.  But everything went flibberty-gibbet when I tried to quickly sketch out his barrel and hindquarters.  My usual precision was nonexistent, and the poor horse ended up with a very awkward conformation.  Front and back appear to belong to two different animals.  I wanted to give it up right then and there (and of course I was doing the initial drawing in pen, so there would be no correcting it).  I took out my cheap oil pastels anyway and began alternating colors at random as I drew each spiral, focusing on warm colors.  Again, I like the result of the head, neck, and shoulders.  The cool colors are too dominating.  They throw off the flow of the pattern and create an almost mental disruption for the rest of the horse, which reflects in my shaky lines and imprecise pattern.

This was certainly a learning experience.  While it is good to draw and create even when you're not in the mood, it can be somewhat discouraging for an amateur like me.  Without my normal focus, it is not pleasurable and I am not motivated to fix mistakes, even as they are happening.  Continuing practice until drawing is more muscle memory for me will ease the pain of such sessions.  I will not give up on drawing more regularly, despite my winter blues.  A professional does not wait until they "feel like it."  They simply sit down at the table and have at it.