100 Days of Drawing Daily

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Day 100. Progress on drawing Westerkerk in Amsterdam.

Day 100. Progress on drawing Westerkerk in Amsterdam.

 

Today is the 100th day I’ve been working on my Drawing Amsterdam Dailies! I’m very pleased with myself to have done this. To celebrate, I’ve made a video with all 100 days of progress:

https://youtu.be/ItOoUG-008E

There’s a lot that can be accomplished by repeatedly showing up, day by day, little by little.

I challenged myself to draw for at least 30 minutes a day using photographs I took on a trip to Amsterdam last year with the additional goal to try to use something from every photo. I’ve been mostly successful with using every picture, but some have been more challenging to figure out how to include. Those few I’ve skipped over I’m keeping in the back of my mind to perhaps use later.

I plan to keep on showing up daily with this but if I miss a day, it won’t be the end of the world. I’ve really been enjoying this and seeing the drawings and spreads develop. I’ve spent a lot of time drawing but haven’t gotten very far geographically from where I started. The last drawing at Westerkerk is about a 20 minute walk from Amsterdam’s Central Station where I started from on Day 1. I like to look at details. :-)

Have you ever worked on a series or creative project and deliberately showed up daily for it? What kind of project was it?

Music in the video is Gypsy Caravan by Vendla.

Travel Journaling in Ink and Watercolor

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I like to travel journal after I get home from a trip using my photos and odds and ends that I bring back. This is from a trip to Porto, Portugal. The seagulls are happy to dive bomb unsuspecting diners to snatch treats away. Do watch out!

I use ink and watercolor in Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbooks. I choose pictures from a day that have the most meaning and significance to me and then edit and put them into an arrangement that seems pleasing. I make a rough sketch of the elements on scratch paper. Once I like how it looks, then I start drawing in my sketchbook. I use pencil first, then ink - often with a fountain pen but sometimes with a fine liner but always with permanent waterproof ink, and then I watercolor. I try to leave white space for a title and notes.

If you are interested in learning more of this process to create your own ink and watercolor travel journal from your own photos, check out my workshops to see when the next one will be offered. At the time of this post, my next Travel Journal 6-week workshop will be on Wednesday evenings, 6:15 - 8:45 pm, at Cloud 9 Art School in Bothell, WA.

Blue and White Floral Tiles from Porto, Portugal

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Blue and white diagonal tile painted bandw 1200dpi.jpg

I took hundreds of photographs of tiles when I was in Portugal this summer. I was entranced by the variety and color and surprise of them. I hadn’t realized that tiles could be used on the outside of buildings and was fascinated to see that all over Porto and Lisbon. Because they were on the outside of buildings it was much easier to take pictures of the sheer variety. I have begun to draw out some of these tile patterns. I thought it would be interesting to see the black and white drawing of just one tile and then have a group of four of them painted to get an idea of a pattern that can be created with that just one tile rotated.

A Spread from a Travel Sketchbook

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European SB Newton 2014

This is the finished spread from a travel sketchbook that I'm working my way through from a 2014 trip to the Boston area, and then on to Europe. Every day from the trip gets its own spread and I wrote notes on sticky notes to remind myself of what I did those days. Somedays I was able to get in a sketch onsite from some part of the day's activities. I do rely heavily on my photographs from the day. I also like to include maps whenever I can and will also draw tickets or passes or receipts to add to the day's events. This particular day was spent in walking around the neighborhood I grew up in, enjoying all the old houses and going to my elementary school. It was also farm share day, so it was a trip out to the farm to pick up the week's bounty for my mom.

A Man Sitting in Front of his House, Old Havana, Cuba

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04 Cuba 2017 lg man in front of house 72 dpi w text with wm.jpg

This is a drawing of a man I saw sitting in front of his house, a normal enough thing. But the building had lots of scaffolding set up supporting the second story balcony. A scene of regular people just living side by side with urban decay.