Week 4 in my yearlong sketchbook practice. Each one of these was a complete surprise to me. They always are a surprise in some way but especially so this week. I was overwhelmed with work and each time I sat down in a little bit of a panic, with no plan, no inclination, no idea at all of where to begin, my mind racing – impatient to get back to work. And each time the little experiment slowed me down and focused and steadied me – like taking a deep breath.
Week 3 in my yearlong sketchbook practice. I’m so glad I started this – I look forward to the little part of my day devoted to making marks on paper. All sorts of things creep in – they feel like little adventures and it feels good to be spontaneous and truly experiment – to respond and let things occur to me, especially in a week where everything else I’m doing is small and precise. And a note on the 3/1 sketch – the quote is from an essay by Poet Charlotte Mew:
“The real things are happening in the forest still.”
Week 2 in my yearlong sketchbook practice.
Week 1 in my yearlong sketchbook practice.
I was planning to share some artist’s sketchbooks I admire today. And I still am – but as I began to put the post together the idea to make room for my own daily sketchbook practice crept up. I take notes all the time and I make lists, lots and lots of lists – sometimes that’s the first glimmer of a new project for me, a big list or pages and pages of scribbled notes, but I do not, and have not had a consistent sketchbook practice even though I think it’s an incredibly valuable thing. I’m not sure why not – scared of it I think. The books below are a couple of my favorites and there is a remarkable collection of artist sketchbooks here.
And Mia Christopher:
The closest I’ve come is the cardboard horse project – it was kind of like a sketchbook – they could be anything, I experimented, they reflect where I was in a given moment, I got ideas – so many ideas and sometimes it was painful, sometimes it was a chore and sometimes I loved it.
* I’m already too busy and usually panicked about time. It’s adding another thing to my already giant to do list.
* Daily practices – even small ones – are guaranteed to be hard sometimes.
* I love a record – a reflection of the day.
* I have a deep craving to make marks on paper
* This year – My Big Creative Year has to do with moving towards something — searching for something I need that I’m not giving myself or a place I haven’t gotten to – reaching. I have a strong sense that this small daily practice will move me in the right direction, it feels like a gift to myself, medicine.
* I am making it small, physically small, so it doesn’t scare me away. And instead of an actual sketchbook I’ve made myself a stack of 4 and 1/2 inch squares and I have a little box to file them in.
* I’m committing to one year – beginning yesterday, Sunday 2/15/2015.
* The question of sharing it – for the moment I will – I’ll post all the week’s entries here every Saturday. The promise to share is important, I need the accountability. It will probably feel embarrassing often and if it is too painful for me or seems too tedious for you I’ll create a separate page for it so that you have the option to visit or not visit rather than posting on the blog.
There are no other rules – just making marks. It doesn’t have to be fancy or intricate or detailed; I can glue stuff, scribble, splatter, draw – anything – I just need to show up and make marks on paper and I’ve got to do it every day.
Here are Sunday’s and today’s :
Check back on Saturday if you like for all seven of week 1 – and if you’d like to join me in this experiment or you already have a regular sketchbook practice you feel like sharing – let me know – I’d love to see.
