I’ve resisted writing this blog post for nearly two weeks now.

Do you see the irony?

I’m enjoying a pretty solid art-making practice these days, but when it comes to writing, resistance seems to have a special hold on me.

*I’ve been rug hooking, collaging, painting and photographing, but writing…*

I set out writing this post to help anyone struggling to build a desired creative practice, but it turns out, as in most cases, I humbly and selfishly write what I need to hear.

There are many ways to move forward into a creative practice. The three steps below were especially helpful to me in the past and, writing blog posts excepted, still are today.

1. Set a goal

Give yourself a clear, specific, closed-ended goal. Keep it doable and make it easy to know when you’ve met it. For example:

I will create 100 floral sketches.
I will take one photo a day for ten days straight.
I will wake up 30 minutes earlier to spend time in the studio this week, Monday to Friday.
I will publish two blog posts this month.

Then do it.

2. Evaluate

Check in on your goal and see how it’s going.

Did I complete what I set out to do? Am I on track? If not, why?
What’s working well? What could be better?
Is there something blocking me?
Do I need to simplify? Shift the timing? Shift the target?
Do I still want to do this? (It’s OK if the answer is no.)
What can I do to set myself up for success?

3. Tweak if necessary

Make the changes you identified in #2.

Don't let things get too precious, just do. Experiment and see how it goes.

At worst it doesn’t work out as planned and you’ve learned something from it, at best it creates momentum and you’ll want to do it again.

.:.

I now have a new goal: write two blog posts this month.

One down, one to go. After that I’ll see.

In spirit of discovery,

Stephanie

♥

Remember Sketches from the Cube? The little game I play where I complete 100 sketches of something at the office during my lunch break?

My first was a series of 100 faces back in 2016. In 2017 I completed the Flora edition, where I finished 100 contour sketches of florals based on photos from a wildflower guide.

This time I chose birds. Why? Because:

I had an old day calendar devoted to them with 365 images to choose from.
I'm a self-confessed bird nerd.
I'd never tried drawing birds before, I wanted to know if I could do it.

*Birds on my cubicle wall in the late afternoon sun.*

The tools

one mix media sketchbook with 7"x10" sheets of 98lb/160g paper
one black Sharpie (I used a black gel pen for a while when my Sharpie ran out)
one old bird lover's day calendar

The process

pull a blank sheet from my sketchbook and gently tear it in quarters, creating four 3 1/2"x5" pieces
flip through the pages of my day calendar and choose an image that speaks to me
sketch it quickly, no fuss
add a background or setting*
repeat the process once more to create two sketches per sitting

* Sketching birds took more time than the florals and faces did. The birds were quick enough - though some were more intricate than others, but figuring out what kind of setting or background I wanted to draw around them was a real head-scratcher sometimes. On some days inspiration hit as I flipped through my calendar and saw a specific bird, on other days my imagination came up short and left me frustrated.

*My oh-so-fancy setup. Always put a notepad underneath kids, so you don't make marks on your desk.*

The results

100 bird drawings, sketched one sitting at a time
a pleasantly surprising revelation that I can draw birds
the discovery that I enjoy creating patterns as backgrounds and have a fondness for drawing birds wearing hats
increased confidence in my ability to draw and meet a set goal

The takeaways

The takeaways are consistent with those experienced during my Flora and Faces series:

You don't need fancy tools to make art.
You don't need a lot of time to make art (two sketches took me about 1/2 hour to complete).
You don't have to be super precise in your markings to draw a bird that looks like a bird. Scribble with confidence!
Regular practice leads to progress.
That being said, there will be "off" days.
Pinning art on your cubicle wall is a good conversation starter.
Completing 100 instances of something builds confidence.
Bringing an art practice to the office reminds you that you are more than your day job.

I wasn't sold on this series when I first started it. It was harder than the floral drawings and the images looked a lot "heavier" on my cubicle wall, I thought 100 might be too much. This series also took longer to finish than the other two, work was busy and I didn't always take the time to sketch. But I persisted.

I'm glad I did.

I'm already starting to toy with ideas for a fourth series, but will let it percolate for a while. Perhaps you'll join in when the time comes?

In the meantime I leave you with a few favourite sketches.