This summer my goal was to do as much sketchbook and drawing as I could. I wanted to make some open space in my practice for things that weren’t driven by a call or collaborative project, but were just to see what I would make without too much focus.
It was harder than I remembered. Often, it didn’t feel “good” to sit at my summer desk (which was admittedly in a beautiful setting). And even when my August studio time was over, I didn’t feel like I had finished anything I had started.
When I got home and was flipping through many half-finished pieces, I felt a real drive to work on them, to get closer to finishing what I started before the semester and the routine of daily life got me out of my habits. I don’t mean the habit of drawing, but more like when you draw (or ride or write or anything) every day, your hands get used to it and it is more skilled then when you do it sporadically or not regularly. And so I realised that’s what I really got out of my summer drawings. A groove I didn’t want to lose (for lack of a better expression. I apologise).
So now teaching is back in full swing, routines are getting cemented and I have projects in works….but I’m also trying to keep some of this open practice alive so that I can go new places with my drawings. I know writing about this makes it sound so cheesy. I wish I could explain better how making unfinished work (half-empty sketchbooks) felt like more of a success, but they did.
I’ll be posting some of my daily diary pages over on Instagram over the next few weeks, and I’ll write a bit about how that’s been going on here before too long….thanks as always for reading and looking.