So this little toy gun, and I do mean little, is marked “REPLICA”.  Phew!  I thought this gun, which is less than three inches tall, might be the real thing.  (No, not really.)

It does beg the question of why someone would want a really tiny replica.  Something to fit well in the hands of really tiny children?  Something convenient to carry to scare off those accosting you, hoping they won’t notice it’s too tiny to hurt anything larger than a gnat?  OK, I’m out of guesses.

I haven’t drawn in ages, having added the role of product photographer to the too-many roles I already have in  managing the business (Sundial Wire).  But it was a  soul-sucking mistake to be away from drawing essentially all summer.

I had started another tiny drawing of a toy gun when Jim and I went to Rockport, MA, for a couple of days.  We went to Halibut State Park, a lovely area with an old quarry near the shore.  I sat at a picnic table with a lovely breeze, my pastel pencils (the only truly portable form of pastels) on a picnic table with a gorgeous view, but, unfortunately, in the company of about 50 biting black flies.

The quarry at Halibut Point State Park, Rockport, MA.

But I got a start on Replica in spite of the flies, and I finished it today at the September Sundial Still Life Sunday.  (Sundial Still Life Sundays happen every third Sunday; a group of friends comes to draw at Sundial Wire, where there’s lots of room and light and not much to mess up with paint or pastel.)

Study for American Still Life, Replica, pastel, 4.75″ x 2.75″, 2016, Copyright Hilary Zaloom

It is amazing how long it takes for me to complete something so tiny.  Three to four hours.  But I’ve never been fast at anything.  (Except giving birth.  That was the one thing I’ve done fast.)  I love how the red comes through all over the gun.

More American Still Life studies to come, hopefully not so far apart.  And maybe I can carve out the time to do the first in the series rather than a tiny study.  Meanwhile, it was great to have a couple of hours to draw.  Here’s to getting back to daily drawing.