As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.
                            Francis Bacon

 Since my last post was about death I thought I would post today about birth.  The above is the birth of a new drawing I have started of an old woman deep in contemplation.  I lightly penciled in a rough sketch placing a few prominent points off which to measure the entire drawing.  Now that she is placed on the paper where I would like her to be I have started shading in her scarf and hair and am slowly working my way down.  Using both graphite and charcoal pencils and working on the larger shapes first I will probably work my way down this drawing four or five times.  By the time I have finished she and I will be great friends!