For whatever reason I have struggled to be motivated to complete the Domestika courses I have started, one of which is Artistic Portraits in Watercolour. I think maybe my attention span is short and has recently been much more focussed on making things than on drawing, painting or photography.

As an artist, should you give yourself up to your current inspiration, like an aerial picking up on whatever random signals are in the air, or should you develop your rigour and sense of discipline by gritting your teeth and forcing your way through a creative block?

In this instance, I am going to try and get on and get it done.

So for the watercolour portrait I’m going to attempt a painting of my wife Laura. I think it’s probably a terrible idea to try and paint someone so close to you because inevitably it’s not going to be great and is going to be a disappointment. However, I would love to be able to paint her, so I’m just going to give it a try.

This is stage one – a pencil sketch. I’m using a grid, as encouraged by the tutor, but even with the grid I’m finding it hard to achieve a good likeness! I fear that without getting this stage absolutely right the whole thing will fall apart!