Connection and Community

My Top Nine Images as posted on Instagram during 2020

We have come to the end of this strange and, in many ways, difficult year. You know the negatives. For me, there have also been positives. Really good positives. Two words sum up the majority of the good: connection and community.

My year began with a new weekly offering of a Monday Night Open Studio. The format we started with changed after we began to meet online, but it has been a pleasure to meet up weekly and see what has been happening and to learn from each other’s experience and interests. Meeting online has allowed for people in other time zones to join in. I still get a kick when someone out of my area joins in.

Because of so much going online this year, it also meant that many of us who were not used to video calls or conferencing before staying at home, were all getting used to it at the same time. Having classes online worked because it was that or nothing. It’s a little strange looking at my face so much on screen, but I do like the commute to class!

I’ve offered a number of new workshops over the year and have found a format that I like and people seem to enjoy as well. One especially is my Monthly Sketchbook Sampler where every month we explore a different topic. I introduce the topic based on my experience, show some examples, suggest some ways to start, and then everyone can try it for themselves. We share challenges and celebrate effort and sketches. I record the sessions which means that if anyone misses class, they have a chance to see what happened. The joys of technology allow for what was never an option before.

In February, I signed up for the first running of The Creative’s Workshop offered by Akimbo. It was 100 days of making and shipping everyday. I felt like a kid in a candy store with a world-wide community of all self-described creatives who were all making and sharing the ups, downs, frustrations and successes with the creative process. So much fun!

Those 100 days stretched into 150 until the workshop closed in July. Another online creative community began from wanting to continue the spirit of that earlier workshop. The members continue to share their work and support one another. It is because of this place, and after the fact from The Creative’s Workshop, where I began to understand how valuable it is to have a safe and supportive community to be creative and vulnerable in. I had mostly worked alone before this. My projects are still my own, but I have a place where I can talk about what is and isn’t working. I can share in the community and get feedback which really is invaluable.

I’ve begun reading again this year. This is partly due to a weekly reading retreat I’ve been part of since maybe March. We meet, say hello and a bit of greetings. We then say what we’re reading, and for the next while, we put ourselves on mute and read. At the end of the session, we share one or two things from what we had just been reading. It’s lovely and I’ve enjoyed the sessions immensely. I’ve been collecting titles of books to read everywhere I go now. So many interesting books, so little time! If you are on GoodReads, feel free to friend me. I love to see what others are reading.

And there were other groups, and weekly Zoom sessions with my mom, and my art, and cooking, and making sourdough bread, and my quilts, and… In many ways it’s been a great year.

What was a positive for you in 2020?

I wish you all the best in 2021.

Following Inspiration

A Giant Pacific Octopus

There’s a lot to be said for developing a creative habit and setting to work every day even when you don’t want to or what you’re doing doesn’t seem like much. There’s also a lot to be said for allowing time for your mind to wander and explore new things – going for a walk, exploring a new neighborhood, meeting people, reading, watching movies, listening to podcasts, etc. Seeing or hearing something new can spark curiosity and inspiration can come. 

This past week I started listening to a book that a friend recommended, The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. She said that the audio version was read by the author and was really good. I agree! The author is passionate and very curious about octopuses and how they live. With her enthusiasm, she has piqued my interest in the marine world.

While octopuses are the stars in The Soul of an Octopus, there are lots of other marine creatures mentioned that I don’t know much about. I now want to learn more of and draw some of the various marine life mentioned in the book. It seems like a great place to start learning from. I seem to tend towards lists and collections, so I’ll be making a list of animals to draw.

This is now the second book I’ve been inspired to do drawings from. Last year I read Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I loved all the animal references but realized that there were a fair number that I didn’t know what they looked like. So, I made a list and have been drawing my way through it.  

Writing this reminds me of Gerald Durrell, the British naturalist who wrote various stories of the animals in his childhood. Rosy is my Relative was one of my favorites. Rosy was an elephant. Another possible place for ideas.

Various octopus trivia to leave you with:

• The plural of octopus is octopuses not octopi. Latin endings aren't supposed to be added on to Greek words (even though we try!)

• An octopus has no bones. The only hard thing is its beak which means it can fit into tiny holes and cracks that the beak can get through. A giant Pacific Octopus can fit through a hole the size of a quarter.

• Octopuses can change the color and texture of their skin and do it repeatedly in fractions of seconds. While it’s good for a picture, when they’re red, they are not happy.

Where did you get your last bit of inspiration from and what are you doing with it?

The Process of Drawing a Picture

I’ve been making a lot of sourdough bread recently and learning a little bit each time which goes towards making the next loaf a little bit better too. One of my loaves came out of the oven last week and was so pretty that I had to draw it.

A recent loaf of sesame topped sourdough bread that I made.

I’ve been wanting to do some more pen and ink drawing work and the details in this loaf of bread were calling to me. I roughly sketched the placement of the bread on my sketchbook page and then started inking with a favorite fine tipped pen, a Platinum Carbon fountain pen.

It’s always interesting seeing paintings and drawings in process because there’s always a stage of not really being sure that the thing is going in the direction one was hoping for. Then steps are taken to work out the issues and usually it turns out well in the end. It’s a bit like life, isn’t it? 

Sourdough Bread Process

This is the end of the first session’s drawing of about an hour or so.

Sourdough Bread Process

Most of the loaf is now drawn and the paper it’s sitting on has been included.

Sourdough Bread Process

The bread is complete. I wanted to include the paper and only make darks and lights using my one pen. It started looking like a mistake.

Sourdough Bread Process

This is the finished drawing. I decided to use a watercolor pencil to color the paper the bread is sitting on. It looks good in the end.

Reuse and Create Anew

I quilt a lot and have been quilting consistantly over 25 years. If you count the quilted pillow I did in high school - with calicos - the only quilting fabric available, and the quilt I started in college, it’s been about 40 years. That’s a lot of time playing with color and fabric! I love playing with new fabrics to see how I can use them with different patterns but I also enjoy extending the life and use of scraps and repurposing fabrics in new ways.

Many years ago, I saw an exhibit of the Quilts of Gee’s Bend and was inspired by some of them that had used cut-apart jeans and garments to create the quilt tops. They must have been incredibly heavy and hard on the hands to sew.

I collect worn and used jeans (cotton is the best), and cut them apart to get flat fabric again. I save the side seams and inseams too. Eventually I will make a coil rug with them when I have enough. I love the variation in shade of denim in a pair of jeans but also in my collection.

When I think I have enough variety in shade of blue, I come up with a pattern that I think will work for an all jeans quilt. The pieces and blocks are bigger than than what I use with quilting cottons. The seams are wider and the whole quilt is heavier too.

Progress of my current jeans quit

I spent some time on my current ongoing jeans quilt today. I have wide bands that I think of like bricks in a row that are separated by narrower bands of bricks set side by side with their narrow ends facing out. Most of the wide brick rows have been made. Now I have a lot of cutting of small squares ahead to make up the narrow rows.

I love this process of laying out fabric and auditioning and seeing if all the colors and shades are balanced. Working on the jeans quilt had me thinking about how much I enjoy the creative challenge of repurposing and reusing fabric that many would toss. It’s environmentally kind but it’s also satisfying to have, use and touch these fabrics which have had lives and experiences and group them together in pleasing ways for another adventure.

What do you like to reuse and repurpose?

Art as a Distraction

I spent too much time yesterday looking at the news which aside from the way it’s described to be to attract more attention and because of real events, was just generally and wholly dreadful and depressing.

What to do? I pulled out a pen and ink drawing I am working on. It’s an MRI of my left foot that was recently done. When I saw in the doctor’s office, I immediately thought what a great thing to try to draw! Yes, I like bits of medical illustration. I like learning the way the foot is put together. I’m curious too what the big black circle is on the picture too.

I’m not done with it, but I am enjoying getting caught up in the process. I also like the challenge of how to get darks and lights down using only a black pen. Lots of stippling.

I did my drawing. I was able to distract myself and get caught up in lines and marks to get myself out of the funk I had been in. No more news for a while.

MRI and ink drawing of my foot

100 Days of Being Creative

For the past 100 days, since February 9th, I have been part of The Creative's Workshop on Akimbo where all participates were challenged to show up daily with something they've worked on, created or thought about. There were days when I didn’t really want to do anything but I showed up so I wouldn’t break my streak.

The Creative’s Workshop has been a great course. Like many things, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. Creating a creative practice is good, but doing this along side a community of hundreds of like minded people was really the highlight of the workshop for me. Showing up with what I did and then reading about what other people were doing was where it made a difference. People commented on my posts and asked questions to get me to dig deeper. I read about their thought process and what inspired them and what was holding them back. It has been an amazing experience and I highly recommend this workshop.

All that said, here's a record of my hundred days of my creative practice.

I finished 42 drawings and 2 sketchbooks, and made 30 videos during these 100 days. Wow!

Enjoy!

The music is Saturday Coffee by William Claeson

Let me know what workshops you have taken that you were really impressed by and that made a difference for you. I’m always on the look out to learn more.

A Sketch Collage of Snippets

I took a two-hour workshop over the weekend with Sketchbook Skool that gave a lot of ideas of ways to fill up pages in a sketchbook. One of the suggestions fits in with something I already love to do - collage drawings. I do this with my travel journals. This spread was much quicker and more loose and wonky than I usually draw but it was fun.

The suggestion was to take a spread, a couple of pages, in your sketchbook and fill it with drawings of things that you live with and that are around you. It can be done all in one sitting or done over a few days. The drawings could be larger or smaller or exact size to fit in puzzle-wise on the spread. You can keep it as just ink or add color later.

I started with various things that were on my desk or were within arm’s reach. A lot of them turned out to be things that I had been keeping there so I would draw them. I have a dragon from Japan, soap from Portugal, a gift, a picture of my grandmother’s cat, pictures of my departed dog, as well as various odds and end like a Kleenex box, lip balm, a jar of brushed, a small container of ink..

What’s nice about this kind of project is that it can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it. It can also be done in different rooms of the house or it can be a visual diary of a day. Do it with one kind of tool one day, and a different one another day.

Try it and share with me what you drew.

A sketch collage of snippets from my desk

Are you interested in the possibilities of what you can do in a sketchbook? Do you have some ideas but aren’t sure where to start? I am offering a new 6-week workshop: Exploring Keeping a Sketchbook which starts this Friday, May 1st. We will be meeting live via Zoom, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm Pacific time. I will give you at least 5-10 different things to try every week in class and between sessions. Come join the fun and start filling your sketchbook and developing a creative habit.