It’s so easy these days to get caught up in all the negatives that pervade our lives. Fear, worry, uncertainty, and a feeling of helplessness have become our companions this past year, and many of my art friends tell me that they’re experiencing a sort of artistic paralysis. So, I proposed a challenge in my student Facebook group that would help to get us all into a better frame of mind:
Every day in February, sketch something you’re grateful for.
This has jumpstarted my group’s creative engines and given us something positive to focus on. It’s been so much fun to see how others find a way to draw “coziness” or “family” or any number of things in our lives that we might overlook if we weren’t doing this challenge.
Day 1 – My first sketch was of Summerhill, the home where we’ve lived for the past 21 years…
We’ll be leaving here in a few months and moving to a new house to be closer to our grandchildren, so I have a heightened awareness these days of how much I love and enjoy this place we’ve called home for so long.
Day 2 – After months of working on revamping my website, I was really, really, REALLY grateful that the project was done, and I finally had time to do things I enjoy more, like painting!
It wasn’t easy squeezing the entire website design onto a 6″ square in my sketchbook!
For the title on the facing page, I masked out all the lettering first with masking fluid then painted the blue background wash. Using a ruling pen to apply the frisket made the whole process doable.
Day 3 – Ever since last March, I’ve been ordering most of my groceries online from the only supermarket in town that offers pick-up services, Walmart. The workers who load my bags work so hard and are always polite and cheerful. I appreciate that. I was chatting with one girl a few weeks ago when I was picking up at 7 am, and she said they had so many orders that she came in at 4:00 am to help out. On her day off! Now that’s dedication.
I like to play around with different tools for drawing, so I sketched this with a Platinum Preppy fountain pen filled with blue Platinum ink.
The Platinum ink is water-soluble, so, after the drawing was finished, I used a wet brush to paint over the lines and blend out the color. It’s a quick and easy way to add shadows to a sketch.
Challenges like this are fun, and when it’s a group challenge, it’s a great way to connect with others, but, with all I have going on lately, I’m finding it hard to keep up the pace and complete a two-page spread every day.
I’ve done nine days so far, but I think from here on I’m going to stop pressuring myself and just add pages to this journal as time allows. I have a long list of subjects I want to include, because, once I started thinking about what I’m thankful for, more and more things popped into my head. Despite the current situation, there’s so much good to focus my attention on.
What are you grateful for these days?
6 Comments
Hi Leslie,
Such a beautiful idea to create a daily gratitude sketch. I am grateful that during this pandemic I discovered the art of cardmaking. I find sitting down to design and create a card so peaceful and relaxing.
Best of wishes in your move to your new home.
Terry
And you must be making a lot of people happy when they receive your handmade cards. Everyone benefits!
I’ll have to write a post about the new house soon, so you guys can see how it’s coming along. We’re excited. 🙂
That’s a wonderful challenge and I love your illustrations. Indeed, much for which to be grateful!
So much to be grateful for that there aren’t enough hours in the day to sketch it all!
Great idea as always, Leslie, I enjoy your work and wish you the best in your new home. Someday I hope to take a workshop with you when we can travel again.
Thanks, Barbara, I look forward to meeting you in a workshop sometime soon. It’s so much fun to be together, all creating in our individual styles and sketching the stories of our lives. I really miss it!