Life Lately

Looking through my sketchbooks to remember...

I did not mean to take such a long break from sharing here, I don’t know if it was the arrival of half term, or the slow but steady (constant) trickle of workmen in and out of our house, but there just doesn’t seem to have been the time I imagined there was for making things let alone writing about it to share. However, in my absence, November arrived with rain and mist and despite the gloom I have been able to look up at the sky with appreciation for the colour grey. I am very grateful that my brain works this way and chooses by default to take in the beauty of a grey sky as a subject in and of itself, and can leave the emotional attachment to the weather out of it!

I haven’t been doing weekly spreads for my visual journal and as the weeks went by I lost much of my excitement for drawing completely. This did make me sad and frustrated, but I realised (again) that my expectations of myself are simply too high, that life is full and daily, with many more things to be fit in its days than simply making art. I have been using my tiny journal and I took a look back through there to piece together the events of my weeks, here they are if you’d like to see.

Sand down Beach, IOW. Hilariously labelled shelves in a bookshop. Drawing at dusk.

We took a few days to travel to the Isle of Wight and walked each day, ate cream tea, and played 2,671 games of dominoes. I took full advantage of the views to draw in my tiny pocket sketchbook. Often standing up, often very rushed!

I climbed the scaffolding to the top of a house to draw, it was freezing and a tiny bit terrifying! But I loved the change in perspective. The rain drove me back indoors to dry my sketchbooks by the fire.

Pages from my daily walks.

I noticed a sudden drop in my willingness to go outside after the clocks changed but am determined to keep up my practice. However, the cooler weather and damp air means I can no longer paint outside as it simply doesn’t dry. I played around with some terrible pens in my sketchbook, and I like them when they’re just about to run out- they make scratchy marks that please me. Many of my drawings have been awful but I learn something every single time! I am very excited to draw festive things!!!

I’ll be back soon with more to share but as always, thanks for reading. If anything resonates with you or inspires you here, or you’re doing something you think I’d like to hear about please do leave a comment.

Happy making!

Hayley