My Daily Sketchbook

Back in my teens and twenties I sketched in my sketchbook religiously.  I don’t think there was a day that went by that I didn’t sketch something–be it ideas for a painting or most importantly just something from my daily life.

This past month I totally revived my old passion and have started a daily sketching practice again.

My intention is to strengthen my drawing skills, but even more than that to intimately document the world that I live in.

By taking the time to sketch something, you are actually taking the time to really look at something.  By sketching you begin to notice the ways that the object relates to everything else in it’s environment and you can also discover it’s greater details and subtleties too.  For example, the things that I remember most about my recent visit to Costa Rica were embossed into my memory by the time I spent sketching them.

To keep my sketching fresh and FEARLESS–I purposely use a pen and not a pencil.  This way I can’t erase–I can’t try to fix things and get it perfect.  Instead my sketching is more of a direct dialogue between me and what I’m sketching.  It doesn’t have to be perfect or look ultra realistic–that’s not my aim.

What has also been rocket fuel to my renewed sketching practice is the book An Illustrated Journey by Danny Gregory.  I just received it last week and I’ve been devouring it every free second I get!  It’s full of juicy travel sketches from a variety of Artists! It’s been so inspiring to have a peek into other Artists’ sketchbooks–and I’ve also been fully enjoying listening to the interviews the author has been doing with the Artists over on his blog too!

I dare you to pick up a pen and try sketching yourself! The best part is that the more you practice–the better you get!