“Sometimes artists [art teachers] don’t find the time to draw every day, so other artists help them out by creating daily art challenges.”
That is how I introduced #abstractadvent to my elementary art students at the beginning of December 2021. And of course I was talking about myself, routinely back off the routine of a daily art practice.
I enjoyed that month of drawing so much that I continued on – giving myself a personal challenge of making marks 24 days out of every month. It has worked. I’ve emotionally problem solved through what it means for me to be a mark maker. It has allowed me to visually play and explore with materials again and know more firmly what I want for my students (not rigid ideas about what good art looks like!). My inspiration has come from my garden, my young students, my family, past art experiences and the people I have met living in Calgary.
This month I ended up working on two explorations: one for Inktober and another documenting plant structure through mono printing.
November is a busy month and I will also be travelling briefly, so I will not commit to a November entry, but I look forward to picking this practice up again in December.
Please find enclosed my sketchbook entries from May to October 2022. (You can find previous entries here and here.)
b wanhill 