βWe tend to think of the artistβs work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.β β Rick Rubin, The Creative Act
In this first post of 2024, I want to look back at the year we are leaving behind, review some of the drawings I made, and posts I have enjoyed writing, and reflect on some of the creative practices I pursued and would like to carry on to the new year.
This post is an overview of a joyful 2023 full of sketching and adventures, and a reminder, encouragement, and inspiration to myself to actively and consciously keep practicing and experimenting creatively.
I
Building sketching habits
This is a constant in my life. Every year, or at any time when I have changed context, revisiting my sketching and creative habits allows me to rebuild them and adapt them to my needs.
Last year, when moving to New Zealand, I started some new habits, such as what I called Evening Sketches, while I continued to practice other habits such as drawing the same subject and working in series. My advice is always to test and experiment with many different habits until something clicks, works, and sticks. Itβs the consistency ultimately that compounds the practice but too much invariability, on the other hand, can also diminish the creative potential.
This year will be another interesting one. Most likely, I will be moving again, which will present the opportunity to redesign some of my sketching habits. Iβll talk more about this in future posts.
Some ideas revisited:
Evening Sketches:
Drawing the same subject:
II
Learning from other artists
I have always loved studying and learning new things, but it has only been this year that I have become more studious, analytical, and critical of other artistsβ practices and tools.
Reading artistsβ biographies and monographs has become part of my practice and has helped me grow as an artist myself considerably. Experimenting with other artistsβ styles and techniques is a way to learn from their way of seeing. Reading about their practices and lives is a way to learn and improve oneβs own.
These are some artists and their work I have written about: Chris Ware, Hunderwasser, Pete Bossley, Robinson, Christoph Niemann, Ed Catmull, and Pixar.
III
Documenting travels and adventures
This practice is about collecting moments, places, and observations as an active way of engaging with the world around us. It means building a personal library of images and notes we can go back to in the future, either to recall a moment in time or to re-learn and evaluate something that grabbed our attention.
I treasure this practice the most, although I must recognise it has been a challenging one on some occasions - especially sketching in situ when traveling with other people. My approach, when live drawing is not possible or not convenient (sometimes is just best to live the moment and just look and be present) is to take photographs as visual notes and then work the drawings at home or in the studio, to later keep going back to revisit them.
Some of my travel sketchbooks and adventures:
Hope you find in this post some inspiration for the new year. Feel free to leave some comments below: it would be great to hear about the practices you enjoyed, the ones that didnβt work, and the ones you are carrying forward.
Wishing you all a very creative 2024!
βοΈβ¨
Happy sketching!
Ana