Not sure where September went. Life is weird. For most of us, I think, it’s less active, a little dispirited, tinged with a bit of melancholy and not without an undertone of apprehension.  OK, maybe that’s just me.

I find keeping little routines going is helpful and even though a lot of the time I REALLY don’t feel like doing my daily drawing practice, I manage to draw Something every day*.  One of the ways to mitigate my laziness is to do tiny drawings. The first two are on 3.5 x 5 inch paper. The third and fourth are in my 5.5 x 8.5 drawing pad (just as they are – all photos taken on my phone):

*OK, coming clean – I missed a couple of days but only because I was under the weather. Not with the-virus-that-should-not-be-named, just an ordinary thing.

For quite a while a lot of my daily drawings have been of miscellaneous foliage rooted in various yards throughout random neighbourhoods. Foliage is not my favourite subject and it was getting tiresome. So we decided to try “Theme” weeks to get our interest piqued again and to keep up the daily drawing momentum (we haven’t skipped a day yet!)

We started pretty simple by choosing from “animal, vegetable or mineral” and picking a subject from one of these areas. The first week of June became “Rock” week, and, except for one lazy evening when I quickly drew a portrait of Dwayne Johnson on my phone, the results were a lot of fun and turned out OK. (Actually, drawing Dwayne Johnson was fun too.)

Which leads into the next week which became portrait week and when I got obsessed with doing a decent sketch of BC’s Provincial Health Officer. Normally, I can capture people but for some reason, as the week progressed each sketch looked less and less like her. I’m posting the first drawing which is the best of a bad lot. One day, I’ll get it right.

I can’t believe I’m working on daily drawing #122. I’m afraid to take a day off in case I lose momentum.

Artist Lori Fillo and I have set up a gallery page showcasing 20 of our daily drawings – 10 each of our favourites, or at least 10 that we’re reasonably comfortable with displaying. And we’re going to keep going! In fact, Lori’s just texted her latest (I sent mine earlier today for a change). I’m not going to wax on about how helpful and supportive this exchange has been, but I would recommend it to anyone, particularly for artists like me who struggle to keep a practice going while holding down a “day” job. Sometimes it’s hard but it’s amazing what you can come up with even when time is limited (and even if it’s just a quick sketch on your phone. Yes, I’ve done this.) I’ve pleasantly surprised myself upon occasion, and I have to admit my composition has improved big time.

The drawings are “as is”, not colour-corrected, not adjusted in any way – just as we texted them to one another. Authenticity, right? Here’s the link to the “A Drawing A Day” Gallery.