Perfection. I don't have it.

Some artist's seem to attain perfection in every sketchbook page. Andrea Joseph is an example of this type of artist. She hosted the most recent week at Sketchbook Skool and I found putting on her skin and drawing with a ballpoint pen for two days to be too much for me. She's a wonderful and super talented artist but her sketchbooks are far too perfectly composed for how I work. For me sketchbooks are to work out problems, record events and try things out. And for that I need freedom to mess up. Good for her for sure but I need to find my own way. But I can still enjoy her beautifully rendered drawings of often humble objects. 

Ball point pens drawn with ball point pens. I'm sure if I tried this I would end up with a smeared mess on my hands. 

Impatient and Anxious. Accept it or change it?

Often I feel very impatient to have my skills catch up to my desires. Learning to slow down, breathe and enjoy the journey rather than fret and worry is something that I struggle with. Anticipating vacations is often something filled with similar anxiety and worry. Drives my husband batty since he is a much more chill person than as well as very logical and anxiety over fun things like vacations doesn't make a lot of sense to him. Thankfully as we take more vacations as a family and I even get to go out on my own once or twice a year this anxiety is starting to wane a bit. But the anxiety I have over my artistic skills and accomplishments still beats strong. I compare myself to others and see all my shortcomings and have a mini freak out. Today I tell myself to relax and enjoy the journey in my sketchbook. Whatever my destination to trust that I will get there. Working on some continuous line and blind contour drawings and other sketches on this lovely Friday. Planning for a fantastic weekend with all sorts of cool and inspiring events happening right in Boston. This weekend I will remember that I can change and not just grow in artistic skills and pick up new positive habits such as keeping a sketchbook and running, but I can also grow and become less anxious over time. 

Learning to relax and see with continuous line and blind contour sketching. 

Friday Favorite : Art Institute Sketch

I drew a lot on vacation. And I have drawn a lot since I have been back home. This one is from a photo I took outside the Art Institute Chicago during our first night there. Walking around the city at night was a memory I feel privileged to have and wanted to be sure to capture the memory in my sketchbook. Since I don't like using pencil using the wash and ink or fast and slow technique by blocking out the basic images in color using watercolor before drawing. That served as my guide when I slowly drew everything I could see. There are a couple of slightly wonky areas but overall I am quite pleased to have this image in my sketchbook. This is my favorite drawing of the week. Thank you Sketchbook Skool for the technique to tackle such a complex image and the focus to keep going and finish it. 

A lot of drawing and a little text. This is how I will remember my life.

Travel Journal Sketchbook

Back from vacation with a sketchbook half filled with drawings that I did during our travels. I manged to draw every day, sometimes a little sometimes a lot. A great vacation and we have lots to help us remember it forever. Cedar Point, Columbus, Chicago and family all in my sketchbook. Not wanting to switch gears with it completely now that I am home and fill it with random sketches I have decided to continue it with the theme and fill it with memories, mementos and ideas that come from the trip. Using various souvenirs and photographs that we brought home with is for drawings will quickly fill the rest of the pages. Hopefully!

A journal spread that I worked on after we got home. 

Ideas:

1. Pets (Yuna, Abby, Lizzy the shy kitty, the three legged cat and Maeby).
2. Favorite roller coasters
3. Weekend trips
4. Family Trees
5. statue gardens
6. The Art Institute Lions
7. Pizza
8. pool portraits
9. Travel Map
10. Cake pops for Charlotte

Sketchbook adventures.

With the little one yesterday while her sister was with her reading tutor. I would tear this one out and frame in their room Charlotte is so proud, but summer vacation is still very new and there are a lot more coming before we are done and back in school. She loved that baby bunny puppet so much. Might be ready to start really using our nice sketchbook for these summer memories. I am still so intimidated by it and treat it like it is made out of pure gold and lambskin, but really it is just a $15 nice pad of paper. More expensive and nicer than what I am currently using (debatable) but still totally replaceable. 

At the Needham Public Library children's section. Drawn on location in pen then we ran out of time and I had to paint it at home from memory. I may add to it on location tomorrow. 

NYC - Traveling Artist (with family)

Spent the holiday weekend in NYC with my family. First stop was The Cloisters where I showed my unicorn obsessed daughters the Unicorn Tapestries. What I didn't count on was how the tapestry series ends with the unicorn being slaughtered. Alex was devastated. Also didn't count on an adult reaching out and handling the famous tapestry that dates back to the 16th century. We all enjoyed the courtyard, especially Alex and I who sat down and drew flowers and the fountain. My oldest daughter has picked up on the fact that I draw every day and she now does it herself so she "can be a great artist like me or Van Gogh". Thanks kid! Next stop brunching in Brooklyn with friends, The Lion King musical, the MOMA and Central Park. 

The Curse : Sorting through inspiration

On vacation I take many hundreds of photos with my camera and my phone . Along with the typical family vacation photos I took shots of leaves, plants and various things that struck me as having potential. Now I just need to find them so I can use them. Often I take photographs of my surroundings to use as later inspiration for my sketchbook and end up forgetting and never using the photo. Finding it months later and wondering what it is doing on my camera or phone. Digital photography is both a blessing and a curse. I am happy to have it and I certainly don't want to go back to film photography. Plus for everyday pictures digital is much more affordable. But the sorting can be a nightmare. Now we are about planning to take a long weekend vacation to NYC and I will probably take a ton of pictures while I am there, so I should probably go through my Florida photos from April. When do you do the work of sorting through photographs and other tedious tasks? 

Sketchbook Page of the Week

Since all the artwork I did on vacation was in my sketchbook(s) I have lots to share. Head over to my Tumblr blog of drawings if you want to see them all. And head over to Etsy is you want this original watercolor mixed media piece for yourself.

Potted succulent plant viewed from above.

The big chore : sorting through the inspiration.

On vacation I take many hundreds of photos with my camera and my phone . Along with the typical family vacation photos I took shots of leaves, plants and various things that struck me as having potential. Now I just need to find them so I can use them. Often I take photographs of my surroundings to use as later inspiration for my sketchbook and end up forgetting and never using the photo. Finding it months later and wondering what it is doing on my camera or phone. Digital photography is both a blessing and a curse. I am happy to have it and I certainly don't want to go back to film photography for everyday pictures this is much more affordable. But the sorting can be a nightmare.

Saturday Share : Daily Rituals by Mason Curry

One third of the way through Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Curry I realized I need a wife or a servant to be a successful artist. In all seriousness I learned a lot from reading this collection of habits and routines from various famous creatives over the years. While many of them did have wives and/or servants to deal with the children and more household duties so they could lock themselves in a room for hours at a time. Still plenty of others had/have day jobs and would create during their lunch hour or after hours. A number of them were married women with children. As long as I have discipline I have plenty of time to work hard and get things done. It was a great book for reading on the road until it became too dark for me to see clearly. I highly recommend picking this book up if you are a creative type looking to feel less crazy and be inspired in the process. You can buy a copy on Amazon, your local bookstore or check it out at your local library like I did. 

Fighting off the Darkness

Every morning I wake up and say to the darkness: "Not today, you can't have me today." But I feel the anxiety and depression lurking around the corner all the time. These are emotions that have completely mentally crippled me and almost destroyed me a handful of times. They are as much a part of me as my brown hair and brown eyes at this point in my life. It is something that I have to actively combat. Vacation should help but it mostly stresses me out as I anticipate everything that could go wrong. But I do eventually start to relax and feel less anxious and have a good time. Now I am pretty relaxed and hopeful as we head home, I just need to work hard to maintain this feeling and keep the darkness at bay.

Vacationland: Princesses and Fast Rides

My days are spent with my family swimming and pounding the pavement at Disney World. My evenings are spent resting my tired feet and drawing. Pretty great way to spend my vacation. Princess Kitty agrees that this was worth the drive. In between all the drawing, painting and reading I'm doing on vacation (hah!) I have been spending hours at the parks with my family. Fun but oh so tiring. The more time we spend at the parks the less energy I have for my work, but I am still managing to get stuff done. Finding the right balance between "rest" and work is a challenge at all times, during vacation is no exception. 

Portable Art: Vacation Day Bag

My vacation day bag includes:

1. my sketchbook
2. camera
3. iPad Mini
4. stylus
5. books (Die Empty and Daily Habits)
6. travel sized watercolors and water brush
7. pens
8. colored pencils
9. iPhone
10. my brain

Will see how many of these items I actually use during this trip and report back. What art supplies do others bring when they travel? 

Thinking about my home of Boston today while on vacation at Disney with my family. Good luck to all those running in the Boston Marathon today.

Vacation: We're Going to Disney! (again)

How did I become the type of person that enjoys Disney World? My family went last year and I was more excited about the sunshine than about the park. I left saying while we had fun I wanted to wait at least two years before going back because I didn't want to go with a three year old. But as the year went on I softened. A few short years from now the kids won't be interested, but for now it is magical. I am excited to go back to Disneyworld! And excited about the sunshine. Filling my sketchbook with doodles of the sleeveless dresses I am going to wear. I am going to bring my sketchbook with me and come back with all sorts of interesting drawings whenever I have the chance. 

My Creative Bug is my Daughter

On a lark I signed up for a free trail and then a month of Creative Bug for the month long drawing class with Lisa Congdon and it has been great. Thankfully I am already a longtime Micron pen fan and I was able to dive right in and get to drawing. Then during our vacation day this week after being home and working while the kids played nicely together (I'm serious really I could get used to this growing up and maturing business) I put on the first video lesson for Alex and she was transfixed. She loves art and drawing and she is very much in sponge mode lately so she just took everything in. I am looking forward to seeing what she does with the material.

Planning: Nurturing my art this summer

Thinking ahead to summer and trying to figure out how I can enjoy the summer sun and fun with the kids while still carving out creative time for myself. We will not be putting either one of them into any childcare or camp. We considered it but I decided that I would rather spend the time with them during the summer while they are little and just find a way to make up the time. I can't count on Charlotte napping like she did last summer and that kind of stinks. But on the upside that means we aren't so tied to the house which will be really great! I need to use the outside time with them as inspiration and sketch as much as I can and find some young kid friendly projects to share with both of them. Then work for myself on nights and weekends. For the most part I want to be out in the sunshine with my children as much of the summer as possible. I'll have tons of time to create once school starts up for both of them. Maybe I could save up some babysitting time during the day once or twice a month. I welcome any suggestions. Mostly on this cold March Monday I am enjoying dreaming about summer and being warm.

Breaks

Fancy Takeout from Myers and Chang is a great break treat when you've been working really hard and don't have time to cook or get a baby sitter. Nasi Goreng and Tiger's Tears both perfectly prepared and packed for takeout and eaten in our living room. Our perfect meal and a great way to treat ourselves. 

Art Date

On the last Saturday of every month the ICA has cool programs and is free for families. The ICA Boston is always free for kids but on those days the kids get the adults in for free as well. Pretty cool. We went in the spring and had a great time but haven't been able to make it back until this month. I went with my eldest daughter and had a great time. She loved the Nick Cave exhibit, especially a statue with the Easter bunny holding a very glittery egg. But what she loved best is what I love best. Sprawling out with an amazing view of the waterfront and drawing. She worked very hard on her drawing and put it above her bed when she got home and kissed it goodnight. I think we will be back for more of these art playdates.

Washi

Paper is my big hoarder collection. I have piles of it that I either made or collected over the years. Thankfully it doesn't take up too much space, but keeping it orderly is another issue. Among the art that I have made on paper and the scraps of art I have various art papers. The most special to me are the washi papers. I mostly use them in my sketchbooks these days where a little washi highlight can go a long way. So beautiful.

Learning

My six year old wants to draw all day long. She's also very skilled at using art to calm herself and find her center, right wrongs and celebrate life. Why don't I? Why do I get so caught up in tasks and my boring to-do list and not draw more often and enjoy life more? Live more often. Get lost in the white space of time while creating. Well, I should take a lesson from my daughter and do just that.