Developing a visual memory

I was keen to practise 'cataloguing the contents of (...) through drawings'. So after going for a haircut, I drew what I could see on the hairdresser shelf in front of the mirror, on the way home, on the bus in a tiny sketchbook.
It was very informative (tiny drawing that I can't find now). I remembered a brush, the top of which I could describe in details, a small spray bottle, after quite a while I remembered a comb that was put down and picked up by the hairdresser, and the rest was a big question mark.

I think I had been sitting there for about 20mn, looking at the hairbrush and day dreaming. Not taking any notice of anything else. Since then, I have started looking around me more accurately, as if I was opening my eyes. Perhaps I should update my eye test too?

This week I haven't sketched as much as I should, I finished the 'childhood' small painting in oils that I mentioned earlier:

It was a pleasure to paint, and mess around with the paint texture. I thought that the bike looked fine to me, but I had struggled with our position, proportions, faces - still difficult to paint a child and not ending with her looking old!

Also, there was a discussion on the OCA website about art where I said that I had to come to the conclusion that at least part of it is genetic. Two generations ago my family was working class, doing their best to elevate themselves above poverty. In this situation, art was allowed as a hobby (music, crafts) if accepted at all, despite the fact that many had displayed artistic abilities. I am very lucky to be able to feel that I can be an artist. I have been a musician, a potter, and now an illustration student. Still, it is not comfortable, the guilt is about not having 'a real job' and not bringing in money for the family.

Turning words into pictures:

I have started this exercise, but despite having a range of materials at hand, my ideas seemed to come too quickly and I captured them in pencil, then I checked with Google images to find some more. I have chosen the word Exotic. Google reminded me of 'exotic cars', that I am not interested in at all, and 'exotic dancing'. That one seems to be about strippers, belly dancers, burlesque. I decided to pick Josephine baker to symbolise exotic dancing. Somehow this has led me to start a portrait of her in the style of a 'Fayum mummy portrait' (more about this later), in oils. Here are the images I was talking about: