Making Time

I’m going to try to commit to 14 days of daily sketching, specifically for posting at Proko’s drawing basic’s course, but I have tried to commit to this several times over the last year, and I always end up skipping out. It feels a little like a cursed task, every time I add “Day 1 of 14 days of drawing” to my daily to-do list. The idea of blocking off time in my calendar is nice and all, but chores or sleeping at least 7 hours or whatever takes precedence. I still like to think I can just wake up 30 minutes earlier and draw, it’s just no matter how much I like that idea, I’ve failed to transform into a morning person with morning energy. Blargh.

So the plan is to just figure it out spontaneously. Maaaaybe try calendaring it, but let’s get real: I will probably ignore my personal calendar anyway. I’m already so tightly scheduled at my 9-5 job, that I’m loathe to have too many calendar blocks on my personal time.

Today I took a half day from work, to go to a doctor’s appointment. After, I was able to pick up some cold brew coffee and take time to sketch at a park I used to sketch at all the time, years ago. It was strange being back out there. There were so many thirteen-lined ground squirrels, with their cute stripes that make them look like little snakes. And I saw two blue jays, eating acorns in the grass about 20 feet away!

Above is meant to be “day 1” of 14 days of drawing (hopefully). The little ground squirrel in the corner turned out a little too much like those cursed creatures from the Quiznos commercials of yore, and I cannot unsee it. (I ate way too much Quiznos sandwiches in college, and those commercials are burned into my memory… )

Since folks include photos of what they observed on the Proko course, I also snapped a photo of the tree:

It was a perfect fall day to take some time for sketching. I kind of wished I’d had my watercolors or gouache to capture the colors, especially the bright greens.

One ground squirrel was keeping a close watch on me while snacking on acorns.

The second page I drew on Tuesday evening, all from life except the lower right ink drawing of tree bark – that was referencing from a Pexels photo. Drawing in cool weather with a hoodie on while the sun was shining: 10/10, would recommend.

I am still annoyed at editing photos in Gimp. I don’t know how to use the program properly and I miss PS. I’m channeling the “Half-ass it” “Do it poorly” post-its that I saw forever ago on Chris Glass’s blog (found via Reddit I believe). I’ve added similar post its to my own monitor ^_^v.

Now to finish watching Jenny Nicholson’s latest patron ramble!

‘Til next time.