Me & the Blog

I've always been sketching and making things. Even from my early school days I was aware that art was a large part of my identity - the girl who could draw. But as I got older I began to do less art because I started to put too much pressure on myself to out do myself and it started to become less fun.

When I went to uni, I had almost completely stopped drawing. Not to say it wasn't on my mind. It's always somewhere in the back of my mind. But I had psyched myself out so much that the thought of actually sketching and painting was stressful. Whatever I did would never meet up to the impossible standards I had now set up for myself. But I knew not drawing only lead to further dissatisfaction in my life. I needed to make a change.

It was the last day of 2015 and I was thinking about New Year's resolutions and how I could bring the practice of art back into my life again. I knew I had to hold myself accountable. I had already set up a Facebook Page and was posting things once in a blue moon, but it was time to start making art a regular occurrence again. So I made a decision and sketch a day 2016 began.

I can't take full credit for the challenge. It's definitely not ground breaking since there are plenty of people out there that do similar practices. Some even do it without a hashtag because it's just the way they live their life. But I needed something to break the rut I had gotten into.  

The idea of sketch a day 2016 is to practice art and create something everyday no matter how big or small. Partly to improve your skill level but also to be less precious with the things you make. Don't like what you made? There's always the next day. And I think it worked in part. I might not have delivered with the one sketch per day aspect but I definitely was consistent with making art throughout the year. It got my creative juices flowing again and I could definitely see some improvements in the work I was producing. More importantly it helped me enjoy the process more, instead of being so fixated on the end product. 

The point of this blog initially was to follow my #sketchaday2016 journey but now it's just a place where I can share my love for painting and drawing. I post a mixture of what I'm working on alongside trying out new materials and maybe even giving reviews on art products. Even though my content on here isn't as regular as it has been previously - my facebook, tumblr and instagram are where you can find the more regular stuff - I still like to post on here when the inspiration strikes!

More recently I've been working on family portrait commissions mixed with drawing for fun. No major daily challenges on the horizon but still managing to keep art in my life!