I left my gray-paper sketchbook and pastels pencils at home, so during this session with a live model, I improvised with NuPastels on large-format white paper. I haven’t handled NuPastels in many years and they were very blocky and hard to blend, but eventually I got the hang of it and something good started to emerge. Not sure if I will bother finishing this one – I rather like where it is right now.
Today is Human Rights Day all over the world, and to commemorate it, I thought I’d share a sketch I did last night at a live model drawing session. He had such a striking face, and one of my fellow artists asked him where he was from – Tibet, he responded.
His place of origin reminded me of one of my former students at ADI, who was also from Tibet. She and her little sister shared with us the stories of the fear and danger that her family experienced there, where human rights violations are so common as the Tibetan people struggle for autonomy.
It touched my heart to think about her and what she went through, and what the man I drew last night may have also gone through (although out of politeness I dared not ask), so I decided to dedicate this portrait to the plight of those people on the other side of the world, fighting for the right to exist and be free. If you’d like to support the people of Tibet, please consider a charitable donation to FreeTibet.org.
And if you have any other resources or stories to share on this topic, please feel free to comment below, and share with your friends. God bless <3.
