📝 Evening Sketches
Ideas for a daily creative practice
‘I also kept remembering what my mother always used to say: “Done is better than good.”’ — Elizabeth Gilbert
There is a powerful creative tool available for all artists: Morning Pages. Julia Cameron describes the concept in her book ‘The Artist’s Way’:
Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages — they are not high art. They are not even “writing”. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind — and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page… and then do three more pages tomorrow.
I believe this tool is powerful because although originally praised by Cameron as a journaling exercise, the concept is adaptable to any creative practice and it contains the key to unlocking any artistic endeavour: daily practice (‘… and then do three more pages tomorrow’).
Lately, I have been working on a practice I call Evening Sketches. Cameron insists on the importance of journaling in the morning but when adapting a creative practice to a busy schedule, sometimes it is only in the evenings when we can find quiet time to focus. This has been my case since I moved to Auckland. My morning routine has entirely changed: now I walk to work every day for about 30 to 40 minutes - which I love - and rarely work from home. But this means that I don’t have the time I used to have in the morning to write and read when in London most of the days or (at least, half the week) I would WFH.
I wrote about those morning routines some time ago:
I am still crafting these evening routines, though, but these are some practices I am trying and testing to make sure I practice drawing almost on a daily basis (regardless of my design work):
Little observations and learnings from the day we are about to close.
Sometimes I have done this with a bit of journaling, reflecting on the day, others I have sketched something that captured my attention, like a beautiful tree I see during my daily commute or something I learned, like an interesting section of a street I walk daily and works from an urban design perspective.
I think I’ve shown this drawing already - beautiful tree I see during my daily commute © Ana Vila 
Section of Karangahape Road (known as K-Road by the locals) © Ana Vila Observing and drawing the same subject every day.
I’ve also been drawing the stunning sunsets Auckland is offering and tried to keep the habit of sketching the views from our big window every day at the same time.
Different sunsets captured from different windows. The one to the right from our new apartment (what we call our Kiwi Nest) © Ana Vila Doodling.
I was very inspired by Hunderwasser’s exhibition at his Art Gallery we recently visited in Whangārei (I am writing more about this in future posts). His doodles captured my attention and since then, I have also been testing drawing some more abstract and spontaneous compositions following different patterns and frameworks.
Doodle on Auckland’s Urban Form © Ana Vila
The key to all the above, in summary, is to consistently practice. From my experience, it doesn’t really matter that much what you choose to do but how you do it, and for how long and often you do it. You can see amazing progress in people that draw (or practice anything) daily.
These are some books I’d recommend to get inspired on different creative rituals and practices:
The Photographer’s Playbook is a fun, fantastic collection of assignments to practice photography. Some could be easily translated to drawing or any other visual discipline as the majority of exercises are built around the skill of looking.
Christoph Niemann’s Pianoforte is an excellent visual chronicle of learning to play piano, of both the struggles and imagination that it unlocks. Also, his Sunday Sketches is a perfect example of practicing regularly.
Dancer Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit and Keep it Moving are terrific reads on building a creative discipline and a reminder to move our bodies.
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Happy sketching!
Ana
Have you set up any creative daily practice? Do you have any recommendations? It would be great to hear about it! Leave a comment and share your thoughts :)
I used to do an evening sketch version of a gratitude journal, making a little drawing of my favourite moment of the day. Even years later the memories come back really vividly from those sketches vs from later years when I switched back to writing.