When I was growing up I was not even remotely interested in politics, so I was really surprised this year when my kids (ages 12 and 14) were so interested in the presidential election. They watched the debates and political news, and debated with their friends who had opposing views. I have to admit, I was pretty caught up in it myself. After the election, it seemed our whole family went through election withdrawal. It was nice to see the end of it, and yet we somehow missed the political focus.

Since my son is learning how to draw faces in art class at school, he wanted me to teach him to draw Obama. We went to Obama’s website for our reference photo, and sat down with our materials. I have to admit my drawing method can be tedious, with lots of measuring, and my son quickly grew bored. He decided his way of drawing was much more fun, and soon I was alone.

Without my son watching, there wasn’t much point in continuing. Since I had used Fabriano Tiziano pastel paper for my drawing, I decided to finish it in pastel. The texture of this paper is quite different from the smooth surfaces I usually use, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to experiment with style. I chose to paint it loose and scribbly, and tried hard not to blend. With enough layers of soft pastel, the paper gets covered nicely, but I also chose to leave some areas sparse, with the paper showing through. I really enjoyed being able to loosen up. Painting Obama was a fun way to deal with election withdrawal.