Birds rabbits and wolves
Creative gold in the cracks of life
Since there are so many new subscribers - Welcome! I'm glad you're here! I'll describe my sketchbook practice so you'll know what you're seeing in my newsletter.
Almost every morning during breakfast I take 10 or 20 minutes to write and/or draw by hand in a 5.5 x 3.5 inch sketchbook. Often I work on the same sketchbook page over different breakfast sessions. My intention isn't to make a “perfect” drawing but I've been drawing daily for more than a decade so my drawings tend towards being good. Persitant practice does that.
In my sketchbook practice I use fountain pens, watercolor, gouache, a water brush, color pencils and Copic and Micron pens in a small 5.5 x 3.5 inch size Royal Talens sketchbook. I have all of these supplies near where I sit at the breakfast table. (Yes, I'm very lucky that my wife doesn't mind!) In this photo you see my sketchbook, fountain pens, water brush and gouache paints. Not pictured are colored pencils, the Copic or Micron pens.
My intention when I open my sketchbook is to check in with myself, amuse myself and start the mornings gently. I write a short sentence on some topic I happen to be thinking about, usually something I woke up thinking of or remembering. Sometimes I work on the wording on a scrap paper first and then write it as neatly as I can in my sketchbook. My original words aren't signed - this page is an example.
Sometimes my mind feels uninspired in the morning so I look at a printed book of quotes, select one that speaks to me that morning and copy it into my book with the proper attribution and use that as a drawing prompt.
Sometimes I just draw putting no words on the page. Often I look outside my windows -at nature - or around my house for inspiration of something to draw - even if what ends up on the page is fanciful and imaginative it was often inspired by real life. This page was inspired by doves and butterflies seen outside my windows. I worked on it over several mornings.
Sometimes I like to draw more abstract patterns… or maybe it's this rabbit that likes to draw them. 😉
During each of my 10 to 20 min sketchbook sessions what I write or draw or paint - both method and content - is according to my mood. What is not subject to my mood is whether or not I'll make some marks in my sketchbook. Feelings fluctuate actions accumulate. Even if I don't feel like it I pick up my sketchbook and do something in it and often that action leads to more settled feelings.
Because it's important to my own mental health and well being to have regular conversations with myself I put my butt at the table and pick up my sketchbook. There are occasionally mornings in which there is barely time to eat or drink coffee and no time to draw so I go on with life and I return to my sketchbook practice as soon as I can.
Long ago when I illustrated “Dr Bob's Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” I learned how important it is to have regular therapeutic conversations with myself and to “feed my good wolf" as much as possible. My sketchbook practice is the way I've found to do this.
Speaking of feeding the good wolf: My friend
wrote a poem inspired by my 2 Wolves illustration.
My friend
called my attention to this newsletter below by because we share the idea that creativity is for all of us and the idea of the interconnectedness of life and art. My view is that art is what humans do, perhaps in short bursts like my sketchbook mornings, within the midst of a busy life. Life goes on and art is the gold with which we humans fill the cracks of life.
Perhaps primarily besides conversations with myself my morning sketchbook is where I explore my enthusiasms, the things that make me glad to be alive, and in that way set a tone for the day. Here's a wonderful newsletter about pursuing enthusiasm by
Dear new subscribers, the life within which I'm filling my sketchbook currently contains a hurt ankle. The conditions of life are seldom perfect so we adjust and find ways to pursue our creative interests much like a songbird sings no matter what the weather is because that’s what a songbird does. I keep up my sketchbook practice - my song - come heck or high water because it feeds my human spirit and for no other reason.
Here in the photo below: my green cast with a cozy over my toes, Rusty the dachshund extraordinaire and the novel we're reading. When there's a crack in life, this book is art gold! If you're a new paid subscriber please download any or all of the 13 ebooks I've written and illustrated from my ebook index here.
Thank you all for being here! I hope your weekend contains some art gold.
"My view is that art is what humans do, perhaps in short bursts like my sketchbook mornings, within the midst of a busy life. Life goes on and art is the gold with which we humans fill the cracks of life." Perfectly said my friend!
A wise poet, that William Butler Yeats.