New Year's Intentions

Over the past year, I have showed up regularly to share things I’ve been working on to Instagram and Facebook. I thought that this year, I would also share regularly here on my own website. I don’t need to do much, or finish. Rather it’s more important that I arrive and do something. I’ve found that one of the reasons I take on very detailed, complicated projects is for the meditative aspect in working on them.

Saturday - 01 January 2022

I keep a collection of images that I am inspired by and would love to do something with someday. For today’s drawing, I continued a drawing of a giant tortoise that I started a while ago. I love all the textures and am interested in the challenge of how to draw all that using only a fountain pen. I may in the end add some color or ink washes to flood some of the darker spots but for the moment will keep to my fountain pen only.

Start of a giant tortoise drawing

100 Days of Drawing Daily

Day 100. Progress on drawing Westerkerk in Amsterdam.

Today is the 100th day I’ve been working on my Drawing Amsterdam Dailies! I’m very pleased with myself to have done this. To celebrate, I’ve made a video with all 100 days of progress:

https://youtu.be/ItOoUG-008E

There’s a lot that can be accomplished by repeatedly showing up, day by day, little by little.

I challenged myself to draw for at least 30 minutes a day using photographs I took on a trip to Amsterdam last year with the additional goal to try to use something from every photo. I’ve been mostly successful with using every picture, but some have been more challenging to figure out how to include. Those few I’ve skipped over I’m keeping in the back of my mind to perhaps use later.

I plan to keep on showing up daily with this but if I miss a day, it won’t be the end of the world. I’ve really been enjoying this and seeing the drawings and spreads develop. I’ve spent a lot of time drawing but haven’t gotten very far geographically from where I started. The last drawing at Westerkerk is about a 20 minute walk from Amsterdam’s Central Station where I started from on Day 1. I like to look at details. :-)

Have you ever worked on a series or creative project and deliberately showed up daily for it? What kind of project was it?

Music in the video is Gypsy Caravan by Vendla.

When Two Worlds Intersect

Recently I’ve been thinking that my drawing skills would benefit from a more deliberate study by working my way through a book that has caught my interest. The book I want to use is Alphonso Dunn’s Pen & Ink Drawing. I started making marks and doing line work in my sketchbook but then saw he also has a workbook, Pen & Ink Drawing Workbook. It is set up in a way that I like so I will continue my pen & ink practice work there. I have my pens. I have my book. I have my interest. Now to start.

But wait! I just learned about another book this past week which has also captivated me. It’s The Intentional Thread. A Guide to Drawing, Gesture, and Color in Stitch by Susan Brandeis. I now have a copy and it is lovely! I just want to pet it. What especially appeals to me in the book is the deliberate approach of practicing “drawing” with thread. She puts a lot of emphasis on how to translate marks on paper or textures in the outside world to make “marks” in thread on fabric. It turns out this book is very similar in approach to Pen & Ink Drawing but with needle and thread.

I am so happy to have two books that focus on different interests of mine but which work so well together. I look forward to seeing what I create and what ideas germinate and develop from my practice with these two books!

Have you come across any books recently that have made you so happy?