October seems so long ago, doesn’t it? I thought I’d share with you how my monthly project of drawing Amsterdam went and what can happen drip by drip, day by day. Consistently showing up adds up to a lot of progress. I have no immediate plans with what I’ll do with my travel journal aside from enjoying it. It might be something to try on-demand publishing with. I do know, however, that I will offer a workshop on drawing architecture in the spring as part of my monthly Sketchbook Sampler series.

1st spread from #inktober2020, Days 1-6. These are mainly train station pictures with a fare card and a random person I spotted headed in the right direction.

2nd spread for #inktober2020, Days 7-15. I love all the detail and deliberate ornamentation on all these things. Fun to look at and fun to draw.

3rd spread for #inktober2020, Days 16-25. This was my first glimpse of a canal as well as some of the narrow houses that Amsterdam is known for.

Start of the 4th spread for #inktober2020, Days 26-31. I’ve always loved doors and windows and bits of art that I come across. Signs with cats on them also capture my interest!

I really enjoyed this daily dive into drawing Amsterdam, so for the immediate future I plan to continue drawing it daily. I am enjoying all these complicated, fiddle-y buildings as well as the challenge as to what to draw from each picture.

Related to showing up daily, check out the newly published book, The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin. The book is about having and keeping a creative practice as professionals. A certain part of the material comes from observations from the first running of The Creative’s Workshop, February – July this past year. I was part of that group of 400 plus self-described creatives. We were a talkative and productive bunch. The organizers said we created over 50,000 posts during that time! There have been books written and published, record deals made, podcasts recorded, blogs started, communities started and grown. I highly recommend the workshop and think the book will be quite interesting.

If you get the book, let me know if you spot me in the inside cover.

What do you work on bit by bit? Are you able to do it daily?

I signed up for Seth Godin’s The Creative’s Workshop yesterday. I am both excited and wondering what exactly I have gotten myself in for.

“This is a workshop for writers, painters, playwrights, sculptors, musicians, stand up comics, designers, coaches and anyone else who has a craft and a point of view. It’s for people who have a job doing this work for an organization, or for indies who want to do it on their own.

“In this workshop, you’ll learn to find your voice, to do work that a professional can stand behind, to make a living while making a difference.” Seth Godin on The Creative’s Workshop

The students are creatives from all walks of life, from all over the world. I’ve just been on the class site for over 24 hours and already the range of topics is astounding! In addition to responding to fellow classmates and what inspires you from their stories and comments, the course encourages you to do the Dailies and the Prompts.

Dailies are everyday posts about what you’ve been creating and working on. They can be rough, they can be incomplete, but the challenge is to show up and do them daily for 100 days. More if you want to. The Prompts get sent out three times a week. Since those are external, it can be a challenge to respond, but new ideas can be generated form getting out of your comfort zone.

I signed up because I want to push myself creatively to see what I can do next and because I wanted to meet creatives across disciplines, see what holds them back, what inspires them and what do they do in this workshop. The last day to sign up is February 18th. Join in on the challenge to take your creativity to new places!

My first Daily for the Creative’s Workshop Day 1/100. Chocolate Wrappers, ink and watercolor in my sketchbook.

Little by little

100 Days of Creating! Ready, Set, Go!