Week two I continued with my teachers, then moved to friends and family (also teachers!)

#3: When it came to Sakyong Rinpoche, his face proved difficult for me because he is young, and has no lines for me to work!  I remembered Gwenn saying she does it many times, and this was my best after three tries.

#4: His father, the late Chogyam Rinpoche, was easier, and I sketched him in one shot.  The black and white and dark black touches helped to provide drama for a dramatic teacher!

(I hope that I can post these images with the blessings of the Shambala community.)

#5  Orgyen Kusam Lingpa, a wonderful teacher I had the blessing to study with.  He passed in 2009. A wonderful story: He was ending the first week of teachings with blessings.  The blessings were some sort of alcohol, a tiny bit, placed in your hand to drink.  When I found out, I fretted, though I told no one: I wanted to participate but I didn’t want to drink.  All the way up the line I fretted.  I arrived, and he gave me his wide jolly smile with his infectious grin, and dumped the blessing on my head!

#6 is the man who introduced me to Buddhism and that lead to these wonderful teachers, my brother Stephen.  It took several tries to do him and was not happy with the beard.  I walked away from it for awhile then came back in with the sepia marker and finally “captured” him okay enough for me.  Funny, I think he has Trungpa’s glasses on!  Mitchell likes the earlier grey beard; I like the Sepia beard.

#7 is a good Buddha face, fun; and #8 is Lama Tsering, who I knew before she was Lama Tsering, and was a translator for Chagdud Rinpoche.  I am not sure this one does her justice — she has a calm beautiful peace about her.

#9 my dear friend Ruth, lover of cats.  I hoped to catch her jolly good nature; my drawing doesn’t do her justice so this is another one I will have to revisit when I can do better!

Whew.  Made it through the week!  At the end of this week I must say I have a bit more confidence.  Maybe no more skill, but can move into a sketch without pencil knowing I can always keep working it, and if I hate it, rip it out!  Whenever I place the eyes in the face they come alive for me.

I am now agreeing to the  Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or, visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.  My images/blog posts can be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.