When drawing freehand can be a strain

I have always drawn freehand.  This means no outside aides such as  projectors or outside electronic devices.  Now I’m on a venture to get bigger and bigger in my artworks and I need to at least make my photo and apply a grid to it so I can get my proportions correctly.  Yesterday I spent 3 hours drawing and erasing a medium sized layout on watercolor paper.  It was a nasty experience and I still don’t have it right, so I’m feeling frustrated.  The last time I used a projector was in 2004 when I painted a several big oil paintings.

This was a very large oil on linen that a good friend in Washington is holding for me.  It is rolled up in a tube with a few other big oils and someday I will arrange to get them back to me in Mexico.   At the time, I had an old projector and I remember that I hung the linen on the wall and did an outline of the composition in oil and the color I recall was burnt umber.  That’s all I can remember at the time.  But I think I worked on this painting a really long time…..maybe a few weeks.

Once again I am toying with the idea of going back to oils but right now I have a major focus on watercolor as I feel I need much more attention to getting better and better at the elusive water media.

I know it’s a well documented idea but it’s important to never compare yourself to others.  One thing I am know is that I had classical artistic training that I am grateful for it every day.