I have been doing a lot of different stuff. Lately, I have been focusing more on realism than I ever really have. My schedule is something to the effect of in the studio with coffee and the butter thieving dog every morning by 4 or so. I do ten 1 minute figure gestures and then I do at least a 10 minute sketch (sometimes longer) of a random toy pulled out of a bag and then walk 2 miles. Mondays, I broadcast and edit a little. Tuesdays I go out to figure drawing group if I can. Wednesdays I watercolor a face from my Facebook friend’s profile pics. Thursdays I paint a mini sunset on the back of a playing card. Fridays I vlog and play guitar. Saturdays I edit and paint big. Sundays I edit and write. Then, i cap each day off (except for Tuesdays) with ten more 1 minute gestures, five 2 minute gestures, two 5 minute sketches, one 10 minute sketch, and one 20 minute figure. Do I do this every day? That is the plan. Then there’s life. Basketball and soccer practice ran long or impromptu teacher meetings for my beautiful, young bride mess up the schedule. Dining out or making a mad dash to OK to see family or even just not being able to keep my eyes open sometimes trip up the schedule too. The other day, I actually dozed off sketching a nude internet model. I’m just glad it wasn’t a live event. When you get tripped up, especially if you’ve committed to a group to do this particular art every day, it’s easy to say, “I’ll do two tomorrow.”
Except you will still be tired tomorrow. I promise. And when you think about sitting down to do it, you may begin to think about how you need to make one up. Thinking about having to do two, especially if it’s the last thing you do in the evening before going to bed, can wear you out to the point where you just can’t bring yourself to do it. Then you’ll owe three. Or you will skip one and it will just continue to wear on you that you owe yourself or your group one more. Then it becomes easy to say, “Well, I can’t make the deadline so there’s no point.”
Pick up your pencil/brush/chisel/feather and art. Forget about “owing” one. If anyone calls you on it, tell them either you’ll get to it or you won’t. Don’t let that weigh you down. If you forget TWENTY or THREE HUNDRED, pick up and drive on. I don’t even want you to think about “Doing better next time”. If you do it at all, you have lapped the ones standing still.
I kind of rant on that here at the You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok23PqvOn1w
