Sketching the Human Form

I have continued with my practice of daily sketching, although I did take a break at Christmas.  My sketching delights me, even as I'm saying, "Hmm.  I have much to learn about perspective.  I have much to learn about how to draw a face in profile.  I need to think about how the arm comes into the shoulder."

During my online journaling class, I didn't do much with human shapes until relatively late in the class.  I made this drawing on Dec. 11, 5 weeks after the class started (the quote is from the Joyce Rupp Open the Door book that we made our way through):

I returned to the figure a few days later.  I dealt with my frustrations at drawing the face by sketching her from the back:

And then a few days later, the full face:

I had been thinking about the Gabriel Garcia Marquez story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," and I wondered about adding wings to this figure; with the wings, I added some different colors to my marker bag:

Some members of the online journaling group continue to post, which is wonderful.  In response to a sketch inspired by a Mary Oliver quote, I spent some time reading some of Oliver's poetry.   I came across "The Journey."

I couldn't fit the whole end of the poem in my sketch.  Here's the part that spoke to me enough to move me to sketching:

It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.

And yesterday, I thought about drawing a backpack spilling open to reveal wings inside, along with a pen and a book and a dry pair of socks. But then I couldn't figure out how to draw an open backpack. And then I thought, a woman with a well-stocked backpack doesn't need a pair of wings: and voila, a sketch and a poem-like thing!

I've wondered about collecting some of these sketches, both ones I've done and ones I hope to do, into a collection.  I've thought of SARK, whose work is so inspiring and comforting--could I create a work that would be similar?