It's been a long time since I've done any pencil work at all so this was a very enjoyable experience.
I've had an aversion to pencil drawing since in 2nd year in college when an internationally acclaimed Irish artist engaged by the college as an external examiner in his forties made me want to give up drawing altogether.
He became aggressive and shouted at me over my lack of use of colour and heavy dependency on pencil. My only reprieve, in his view, was a printed self portrait, to which he said 'you have something there' 30 other drawings had nothing to offer.
I was 20 and sensitive at the time, I've met and dealt with a lot of aggression since, my coping mechanism now finely tuned, but at that time, this experience left me physically shaking and sobbing.
I feel sorry for the self taught artists out there who will never experience the growth in layers of skin that form on your neck through those art college days.
