Every Christmas, my family has a fabulous Yankee Swap--all of us, four kids and four adults, with a pile of wrapped presents to chose from, all on the coffee table. This year, I ended up with a Drawing Journal that provides a daily drawing prompt. There are 365 prompts in all, and I'm committed to doing all of them.
This one requested something reflecting Japanese architecture. I do all this free hand, and there's clearly room for improvement, but I'm coming along. It feels really good to have a year-long challenge where I'll learn and improve. I'm thinking I may give the final journal to my Jessica next Christmas. She may or may not appreciate it, but in my mind, I fantasize that maybe the great grandchildren I may never know might look at my doodles and get a kick out of them.
A musician friend once told me that almost all new music is pirated aka "borrowed" from what already exists. There are only so many combinations of notes. I wonder if art is kind of the same. Almost always, I'm googling examples of what the daily prompts require--draw a landscape looking down, sketch a storefront, create different hair styles, etc etc. And almost always, I sketch from a copy of what I find on the internet. I know many artists who paint from photographs, which is pretty much what I'm doing. I put my own spin on it, but for sure this scene already exists.
I should add that as of today, I'm already 21 days behind. That's fine, because my Turtle Therapy way of doing things says that I won't let something I love become a chore. So I'm taking my time doodling. I'll finish by the end of the year, but at my own pace!
Love kj
