In January I had planned on participating in the January Blues Drawing Challenge and technically I somewhat did. I created sketches for all the prompts but I never actually created finished colored in pieces. I just didn’t have the time. Below is a flip through of all the sketches created for the challenge.
Hi! Sorry this is so late. I originally planned on creating weekly videos of the sketches but changed my mind as that would just take too much time. It also took me a bit to find a good free video editor and to learn to use it. This is all new to me so it took some time. I chose to use Da Vinci Resolve. It not only was free, it did the things I wanted and it wasn’t clunky or hard to use. I don’t have a fancy camera so I just used my Pixel 3 to create the videos. Hopefully as I keep doing these videos I will get better at it.
As for the sketches I thought I should mention that my sketches will always be in pencil, they will be quick and most likely there won’t be a ton of great ones. I don’t think sketches should take a long time to do; unless I plan on turning it into a completed piece. Even then I still may create a quick sketch before creating a more fleshed out sketch. Since this sketchbook is just to get me into sketching everyday it is very unlikely that there will many, if at all any fleshed out sketches in this sketchbook. I actually have another sketchbook I tend to use for that.
The only reason I am creating videos of my sketches is that I wanted a way that would hold me accountable to sketching daily. I originally wanted to post pictures on Instagram but as I thought about it more I really didn’t want to flood my followers feeds with constant multiple daily pictures. I know there are people who hate that.
Below is January’s video. You can watch it below or on Youtube.
I plan to sketch everyday in a 600 page sketchbook that I bought almost 2 years ago. The plan is to do about 2 pages a day so that by the end of the year I will have filled the entire sketchbook.
I’d like to do another series like the creature series I did back in 2017. Not sure yet what the theme will be but it will most likely be done in watercolor.
Watercolors are my favorite medium which is why I want to improve my skills.
I love creating coloring pages. I’ve created many in the past. This I would like to create a physical coloring book.
I have a few art supplies that I have never gotten a chance to try. I would like to try them all by the end of the year.
Create a new challenge or participate in a challenge I have never participated in before.
Hi! Yes I am back after being gone from here for a year. So many things happened in 2018 that kept me from updating and posting on here like I had planned to. I was unable to do any of the art projects I had planned. 2018 was the year of injuries and thus made me feel very uncreative.
I started out 2018 by slipping and falling on some ice in front of our old house. Besides hurting my hip, back and knee; I also broke my left wrist; specifically the radius bone. Even though at the time it was a swollen s-shaped mess and it was believed that the bone would have to be realigned; it thankfully was only weird swelling as the bone had broken but not moved. Due to that weird swelling they did a temporary ace bandage with a plaster brace for a week in the hopes that the swelling would dissipate. It however did not so instead of a cast which with this swelling could cause nerve damage as well as it would have to constantly be cut off and replaced, the doctor decided a brace was best as I could adjust it based on the swelling so that the nerves wouldn’t get constricted. However since a brace is not as protective as a cast I had to be very careful. The pain was horrible for the first few weeks and the pain medicine they gave was useless. So I basically just grinned and bared it; pretending it wasn’t painful whenever I could. Nights of course were the worst. It took 2 1/2 months for the break to be considered healed enough that I didn’t need to wear the brace 24/7 and that I could start physical therapy. The doctor only wanted me to do 1 to 2 sessions so I could learn how to do them at home but despite that and despite the fact that the therapists said I was doing way better than I should they tried to keep adding sessions. I did 3 sessions before quitting and then just did the therapy at home. I did have some nerve issues which caused constant numbness on my thumb, two fingers, part of my hand and arm. Thankfully it eventually went away after a few weeks of not wearing the brace all the time.
While healing from the broken wrist we decided to sell our house and buy one closer to my husbands job. I immediately started packing up the house as I don’t like waiting to the last minute. I also knew with my broken arm packing was going to be slow. In about 2 weeks we found a house, put in an offer and it was accepted. This new house dropped my husbands commute to 20-25 minutes instead of the 1 hour and 15 minutes it was before. Also with this new house my cats had a room of their own so when maintenance people or things were being done to the house they had a safe place to be and it also gave me a room to be my art studio. Then during the move I managed to hurt both my achilles tendons. So with that and my arm still being painful sometimes, unpacking took a lot longer then it should have. Since I now had a larger art space and I got rid of the old mismatched storage, I purchased new furniture at Ikea and while building one of the heavier units I not only hurt my wrist but also both elbows. Thankfully a couple of months went by with no further injuries and by the end of September my injuries were either healed or almost healed. I thought I could finally start getting back to doing the things I enjoyed and then I went to Longwood Gardens and my achillis tendons acted up again. This time far worse then before. The next day I could barely walk and they were incredibly painful. I went to orthopedic urgent care where they said I again had achillis tendonitis on both feet and I had hurt my tendons really bad but thankfully nothing required surgery. I just had to rest, keep elevated and iced. I also started at home physical therapy. Thankfully my achillis tendonitis is improving but I’m still not 100%.
I did manage to do some art towards the end of the year. I do feel rusty creatively but hopefully this year will change that. I have a lot planned for 2019 and am looking forward to a more creative year.
Below is an extra coloring page for the month.
You can download it by clicking here or by clicking the image below.
If you happen to download and color it in, I would love to see it. You can post a link to it in the comments or share on social media using #unwaveringimagination.
