Rediscovering pleasure

At the Galvez Atelier, we copy figures from the classics; and we do that using only a 2B pencil, a gum eraser, a pencil eraser, a stick that might be similar to what Michelangelo must have used during the Renaissance (we’d like to believe, though, it might not necessarily be true because this stick is made of bamboo, which might not be found in Florence); and a ruler. I haven't picked up a pencil in maybe, the last 40 years, and it felt so good to rediscover the purely sensual pleasure of the lines. Sometimes, the plates get too difficult or complicated and I feel I'm not up to it. But still, I return and return and return. Not until I saw the photos, I would never have known where I was when I started and where I am now, several plates later.