7th April 2023
Starting a Drawing Everyday Project
So I made the decision a few days before we left for our spring break to start another daily drawing project. I’ve written somewhere about this in the past but I have both completed a drawing-a-day project for a year, and I have also quit on daily art projects in the past. One thing I do know is I don’t regret them- even when I fail or give up. I still end up producing more work and enjoying art more than if I didn’t have such a project to keep me accountable.
At the same time, there have been periods of life when it was good not to have the pressure of fitting in drawing every single day. The last few years I have had a good break from challenges or self-initiated projects so I felt like I needed something to help me prioritise art in my day. I had also become aware that due to more travel (I’ve been back and forth more to the UK visiting a family member who was in hospital) and the kids’ school holidays I’ve been veering from being fairly prolific to doing nothing at all. I wanted a way to try and help me be more consistent with drawing even when it seems like the last thing I should be doing, or I’m adjusting to staying with someone, or even make me more confident with drawing in front of others.
It’s early days, and today is day 16- but I can say I ended up doing a lot more sketching on holiday than I have on previous trips. I think having committed to a daily project means it is more on your mind from when you wake up- I ended up doing more early morning sketches of the kids in the Airbnb than I have before - it was a reminder that often these types of sketches, personal drawings of the kids, are often the most special. For me it is the starting that is always the hardest part, it’s easy to think you don’t have time, or to come up with various reasons not to bother: the kids will want to leave, or it’s too hot /windy etc. There was something about having a daily art project, that helped me get started, and then the act of getting a quick sketch in - be it 10mins or less, gave me encouragement to keep going and fill more pages.
After being in two minds about Instagram I have to confess to being back on there regularly again. I know from previous projects it is helpful to have someplace where you feel you are accountable to share your work, good and bad. Instagram is easy in this respect, I can quickly post a photo to stories and make a post for my feed every couple of days. I know a lot of people have issues with social media but for this sort of thing it is a useful tool, you get to see your work develop and visually accumulate over time. Also, I do get a significant amount of daily motivation from seeing other artists sharing work there. I have also considered the fact that here you receive an email notification every time there is a new post, thus I don’t want to be posting here every day, I’d rather do a weekly or 2 weekly more in-depth round-up of what I have been doing, and hopefully, share some more tips and project ideas from what I find has worked for me.
Interspersed in this post are some photos or work from the last few weeks.
Thanks for reading, hopefully, next week I can share some tips and ideas that have worked for me.
Soniaxx
I love the colours you use in your sketches! It's so inspiring to see your drawings, I used to draw my children when they were young and you're so right, those are the most precious ones!
I always have mixed results with daily art challenges, sometimes they motivate me, other times they overwhelm me. The beginning of the year I committed to sketching or painting at least 5 times a week. I decided to use map crunch for reference photos. And for the most part I’ve been doing it. I’m creating more work than ever, and I’m seeing growth in my art practice.