Dear Wonderful Creative You,

One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is why you’re making art. What’s your purpose? What goal are you trying to meet?

Most of my students enjoy the practice of slow drawing and slow painting in my workshops each week. It provides a rhythm of creating that is predictable, sustainable, and happens in supportive community. Very often, students will ask, “I’m doing this this prompt this way.… Is that right?” The answer to that question depends on what brings you to this practice.

Some students attend simply because they need a way to find grounding and calm. Other folks are here because they love art and want to improve their skills and find their own creativity. (This in turn, brings a feeling of both joy and grounding.)

So I would ask you right now – Why do you attend slow drawing and painting? (And by the way, there’s no wrong answer.) Do you want to copy what I’ve done and sink into the moment mindfully? In this case, I would say if you feel grounded and calm, then no matter the outcome on the paper, you’re doing it right. People in this category will find it important to be more and less precise, and there’s no right or wrong about that. Or do you want to find calm through drawing and painting slowly, allowing your work to morph from my prompt into your creative vision? If your goal is to carve out your own creative path, then over time, I hope that you go from asking, “Is this right?” to asking, “Is this right for me?”

In the Gather tier of my membership, The Gathering, we’ve focused this quarter on what it means to find your voice as an artist. In addition to our workshops and journaling prompts, I’ve been infusing the slow drawing lessons with some extra nudges to help students experiment with changing my prompts using what-if questions.

One of my goals with slow drawing and painting has been to provide a flexible structure within which you can explore your own ideas. In my experience, we feel the most joy when we tap into our own creative font. The joy you feel in the process of trial and error, frustration, and discovery is what drives you to continue creating – you don’t need inspiration to get started because you’re curious and keep pushing and experimenting with new iterations of your ideas. Given that, I hope you go off script, so to speak, when we create together in slow drawing and slow painting workshops.

So as you ask yourself “what if” questions with each week’s drawing or painting, don’t dismiss the ideas that you believe are too different, weird, or off-topic. If you’re interested in developing your own voice as an artist, you have to start to trust your ideas, even the ones that seem bad.

Being an artist is about opening up the faucet of creative flow. It’s important to let everything through. Don’t edit or try to filter the ideas, let them out. You’ll see that the more ideas you welcome, the more you’ll get. When you try to filter them as they’re coming through, they get scared and stop coming. This is the inner critic at work, and it makes people think they don’t even have ideas, but I know that that’s not the case.

I’ve worked with enough students to know that some people are so quick to filter and edit their ideas that it seems as though they don’t have any ideas because their inner critic cuts them off before they can even have a fully formed thought. Those inner critics are not terrible, they’re just scared. They need your reassurance that it’s okay for them to sit back and relax a bit. Stop editing your ideas. Even if the art is “bad,” nothing bad is going to happen. The art police are not going to come knocking down your door. This is about having time for yourself to create as a self-care practice.

Let’s look at how this might translate. I want to give you an example from last week’s slow drawing. We began with the Crush pattern, which is beautifully simple and invites tons of modifications. You could easily begin by making the “Crush” pattern once, twice, or even several times as you warm up. (Yes, warming up is important, just like in sports and music.) After a while, little ideas might start to emerge as you draw. That’s when you pull out your what-if list and start noting down ideas. As you’re ready to move on to new slow drawing cards, you can experiment with these ideas and iterations. Little by little, it’ll start to take you further and further away so that your starting piece and your end point have one or two elements in common, but are quite different.

How does that kind of experimentation sound to you? Does it excite and invigorate you, or seem intimidating?

What’s your experience with trusting your voice?

I’d love to hear about your experience trusting your voice. I’d also love to know what brings you to the slow drawing practice. Tell us about it in the comments.

Creatively Yours,
Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I’m talking about the joy of simple art because we have a free challenge coming up, but also because it’s one of the principles that has set me free as an artist.

Having permission to do the simplest thing is about having permission to do what feels good. It means I can do what feels full of ease and fun. And since we are making art for own our pleasure and well-being, it seems to me that honoring what feels good is pretty darn important.

It also happens to clear away my resistance and frustration faster than you can eat a small twist Oreo blizzard from DQ. (Not that I’ve ever done that.🍦)

Last weekend while I was hiking in New Hampshire, in our down time, I wanted to make art, but I didn’t want to create anything that required too much planning or conceptualizing because we had limited chunks of time. I decided to draw a series of slender leaves.

My only goal was to enjoy myself. That’s it. And I did!

Then today I returned to the page, and when I filled in most of the leaves with lines, the page felt like it needed some contrast, so I played with some flower ideas on separate sheets to clarify my ideas – and then this happened…

I’m having great fun with it. I don’t know if I will add more flowers, watercolor, or something else. But I’m having fun, and after all, isn’t that the point?

I’d love to have you join The Simplest Thing Challenge to get you creating more. It’s a free 5-day challenge where I’ll email you a word prompt and photo inspiration to help you create something simple in your sketchbook every day for 5 days. You can sign up for free here!

Do You Find Simplicity Freeing?

Is there a “simple” piece of art that you really love? How does it feel when you make simple art? Tell us what you find freeing about simplicity in the comments. We’d love to hear your ideas.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

I’m excited to offer you this guided watercolor meditation for beginners. I think you are going to love it, and I can’t wait to see what you create!

Meditating Through Art

Have you ever slowed down enough while you are creating to notice the feel of the paper in your hands, or to notice the rhythmic sound of your breathing? Mindfulness is all about tuning into the moment without judgment – just a practice of noticing what is – with curiosity.

Join Our Free Weekly Slow Drawing Workshops!

Curiosity is a super power. When we are curious we have to engage parts of our brain that don’t operate well if we are flooded with emotion. The more I practice going slow and being curious while I make art, the more natural it is, and the more I find myself tuning into the moment at other times too – noticing the way the bubbles of air form under a frying egg, or the teensy triangles of skin folds on my hands. There are opportunities to slow down and get curious in every moment. We don’t need to be mindful all the time – but having an art meditation practice to turn to can help us feel more creative and more grounded.

Comment

I would love to hear in the comments about the difference you experience meditating with eyes open and eyes closed. What was that like for you? What do you find easy or hard about each approach?

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

Art making permeates my life. When I’m not making it, I’m thinking about making it, or sharing it with you. But I know that sometimes you want to make art, but it’s a struggle to actually make it happen. You wonder how to actually art journal every day.

How I Art Journal Every Day

A big part of what helped me art journal every day (or nearly every) was working small. I realized how easy it was to carry a small journal or bits of paper and a pen in my bag. It made waiting more fun and meaningful. Soon I was exploring my ideas more fully and my art became more playful and my work started to bloom in new ways. That sounds good, right?

I love to work with little 2 x 2 inch pieces I loosely call inchies. You can join me for my free weekly slow drawing workshops to learn the patterns I use in the book below:

Sometimes folks ask me what to do with these little pieces of art. I have a LOT of ideas on that, and I wanted to share one of my favorites here:

As a teacher and facilitator, my biggest hope is to offer you ways to connect to your art practice and find the same joy and sense of connection that it brings me.

Learn to Draw Nature Inspired Patterns

You can learn more about my slow drawing approach here.

Comment for a Chance to Win!

*The Inchie Challenge is over – but you can join my free weekly slow drawing workshops where we draw small nature – inspired patterns.

What do you hope the Inchie Challenge will do for your art practice? What would it be like if you made art daily, at least for a little while?

I’d love to hear about your experience, and, if you comment on this post, you’ll have a chance for a free spot in my class, BIG ART, where I will show you various inchie projects where you can start with a few little pieces and build to big art pieces you can hang on your wall.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

Folks often ask me how I find time to make art. It is hard to make time to make art sometimes. It’s my job to make art, and even I struggle sometimes when I’m really busy with the business side of things. But there are a few tricks that make it so much easier to weave art into my days. I like to think about the 3 Ps of making art: permission, preparation, and playfulness.

The Three Ps of Art Making

Permission is the first and most important part of making art. Once you decide that you are worth the time and the (few) supplies needed to make art, not much can stand in your way. And you are worth it. Some people need time in the gym, or in the woods, or time cooking in the kitchen, or chatting with friends. We all need time doing the things that make us feel more grounded, whole and alive. You deserve art making time, no matter how “talented” or “untalented” you judge yourself to be. It’s a vital way to care for yourself.

Preparation is the next key to making more art. When you have the supplies at hand to create, you’ll be ready to dig in without much fuss. Carrying a small portable art kit in your bag, and also keeping one accessible at home can help you make art in all the in between moments. I often make art while waiting in the parking lot to pick up my kids, in doctor’s offices, or while the water boils, and while others watch tv.

Playfulness is the last key to making more art. Playfulness goes a step further beyond permission. It’s about immersing yourself in the creative process – like a wide-eyed kid – fully exploring each idea with delight. This is the joy of the creative process. We make art because it’s fun. And happily, I find the more room I give myself to play and explore, the more my skills improve.

More art play = more practice = better skills = better art = more art making. It’s a beautiful positive feedback loop, isn’t it?

Let Me Show You How I Make Time For Art

I’m visiting friends and family in California right now, and this is a good opportunity to illustrate how I make time for art. Yesterday in the morning, everyone was sitting on the porch in the sun, chatting, so I started drawing.

Sometimes we can feel a bit on stage drawing in front of people. I won’t draw in front of someone that I know will be critical, but aside from that, I pull out my sketchbook and don’t make a big deal about it. Most people let me do my thing and get used to me drawing sometimes. Especially with my slow drawing patterns, the repetitiveness means that I can engage in conversation while I’m drawing if I want to, or I can just be a listener.

I try to almost always carry a journal and a pen. This small coptic bound journal I made is great it’s got a hard cover and is easy to carry. You can find what else I carry in a portable art kit here, and if you are interested in all my favorite supplies, including the Lamy fountain pen I’m using, you’ll find those in my favorite art supplies.

Once we are off on our adventure, when others stop to rest, I can quickly make a sketch of something that captures my attention. I like having a journal with a hard cover, like my coptic journal, so I don’t need anything to lean on. These sketches are just ways to capture ideas. They look messy and interesting and snuggle up on the page next to the lunch order I wrote earlier. Your journals don’t need to be perfect. They need to feed your art practice and your life.

Some journal pages are a messy mix of things, while others are more careful and studied, like this exploration of the Fortuna pattern.

In the evening, some folks were watching tv, and others were playing music. I sat adjacent to the music and drew for quite a while. I love drawings like this because it’s something I can begin in one moment, and then continue to work on as little opportunities arise throughout a day or over several days. All the gentle lines are so soothing.

I don’t know if this particular page is done yet or not, but I know that there’s a lot here that I would like to explore in future pieces. I’m so happy I was ready to take advantage of the windows of time to make art.

How do you find time to make art? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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Dear Wonderful, Creative You:

One of the questions I get a lot is how I come up with my slow drawing patterns. In December, I come up with the batch of patterns that we will explore in the first six months of the year, and in May, I generate the second batch. Since I just created this new group of drawings, I thought it would be fun to share more detail about my process with you:

Coming up with new patterns is a several step process, and I’m happy to share with you about it.

Join Me For Weekly Free Slow Drawing Sessions

Take Photos and Sketches of Natural Patterns

I have a lot of fun taking photos of patterns I find in nature throughout the year. This is ice formed on top of a stream. Isn’t it beautiful?

Here you can see how I’ve taken a photo of the underside of a turkey tail fungus and blown it up so that I can imitate the shapes for a drawing and painting pattern. I’ve interpreted this one in paper cut too because I find it so fascinating.

Experiment a Lot With Patterns

I spend a lot of time experimenting with the natural pattern ideas I’ve collected. My criteria for a slow drawing patterns is that it needs to be simple enough that anyone can draw it, but interesting enough to draw many times, many ways. Because I offer so many patterns throughout the year, sometimes folks think generating them is easy and quick. But while coming up with new patterns is something I love, it takes a lot of time, dedication, and work. They are very precious to me.

Use Slow Drawing Patterns In Lots of Different Ways

It’s fun to use slow drawing patterns in a variety of mediums and contexts. I love layering slow drawing in journals and collage pieces, and over watercolor.

My other favorite way to translate my nature inspired patterns is in paper cutting. The lines, textures, and shadows fascinate me.

Slow Drawing Resources:

Book: Draw Yourself Calm

Supplies for Slow Drawing

It’s so fun to share this process with you. I’d love to hear about your adventures with slow drawing.

Creatively Yours,

Amy

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