April 2015

This past April, I participated in an art journal challenge group.  I had won a raffle at Jerry's, and I joined Katherine Torrini's group.  Since I didn't take a whole lot of time to reflect on the group when it was done -- I had lots of stuff going on at the end of April -- I'll take the time now...

1.  While she didn't really do any instruction on artsy-fartsy techniques, she did give us lots of permission.  In fact, she gave us permission to give ourselves permission to create crap, to not care what other people think, to doodle during class, to have fun, and a whole lot more that we usually don't have to give kids permission to do.  We forget this stuff as adults.  Which actually reminds me of a very good quote that I read in Danny Gregory's book, the Creative License...

my permission slip

 

quote from the Creative License by Danny Gregory, page 23.

2.  She gave us daily assignments that we could turn to if we needed some inspiration.  I seldom used the daily assignments, as I was also using Danny's book for ideas.  But I did use an idea or two, and they turned out to be surprisingly fun -- I say surprisingly because, well, who'da thunk that office supply dots could be fun art?!  Kevin even laughed at my little beach scene, but it was fun!  And kid-like -- I could totally imagine using said dots as a kid to create just such a scene!

dot art, by me!

  

3.  It really did get me into a habit of drawing every day.  Though with a newborn by my side, and going back to work, and having a house to clean, and so on and so forth -- oh, and don't forget finding time to actually sleep -- it was very easy to fall out of habit.  That said, I forgive myself, and now, let's get on with it (another skill she provided participants with)...

some of my favorite pages, not in any order...

      

So, that was April...  I certainly didn't keep up in May, but I did dabble.  And now it's summer, and I'm ready to get into the habit again.  Particularly after something I heard from a YouTube artist, Mary Doodles, who is awesome -- if you're still reading this page, you definitely want to check her out.  Anyway, I can't remember which video it came from, so I can't attach a link here, but she said something like practice drawing every day - every day doesn't have to be a work of art, but you can always do a quick practice of something - gesture drawing, study a picture, still life, etc.  Just practice!  So, I'm reviving the blog.  I'm not even worrying about changing the name, now that 2014 is done, or starting a new one for 2015, which is half-way done...  And we're just getting on with the art.  Just doing it, so to speak -- Nike and Danny Gregory and Mary Doodles might be proud!...

(It might have been from her Drawing Faces Basics - How To Art #8 video...)