Day 1 - 60 minutes or less daily artwork

I am absolutely horrified when I see how long it's been since I last posted anything. That means that it has been ages since I painted or drew. In the last week or so I have been trying to draw or doodle a bit more. That brought about the idea to challenge myself for 30 days.

I must draw or paint something every day for a month. Nothing serious, even a little scribble if that is all I have time for. But I must create something... and it must not take longer than 60 minutes.

Life keeps us busy, and even though my daily job as layout artist is in it's own way creative, it is not art.

For the challenge my artworks will consist of drawings or little gouache paintings and there might even be some digital work. The reason being that it is easy to do in between my other work.  And I need to re-ignite my imagination.

So here is my piece for Day 1. Coffee and a doughnut. - Gouache on water-colour paper.

Getting back to the business of painting

The worst thing any artist can do is to stay away from the paint and brushes. The communication flow between brain and canvas becomes broken and it takes a while to get that flow going again.

Recently I saw a photograph of an old Damara man from Damaraland, Namibia, in a photography group on facebook, taken by photographer, Jessie Vermeulen. I took one look at the photo and knew I had to paint it. So I messaged her and got her permission to use the photo.

This was just what I needed to get started again.

Because of this break in communication, it is taking me longer than it should to finish this painting, but slow work is better than no work at all.

Almost there! I just need to finish the mouth and add the finer highlights.

The art behind the art

Somebody once said to me "you're so lucky you can draw". I disagree, it's not luck, it's the fact that I've been drawing since I can remember. The more you draw, the better you get. I took art at High School and studied art after that. If I had the time, I would paint more. But even when I'm not painting, I'm doodling and drawing in sketchbooks and even in notebooks. If you find yourself drawing or doodling all the time then you just need to keep at it and you will get better.

I call it my play time, when I grab pens, pencils or pencil crayons and just draw, doodle and colour. That's when I let my mind go and just have fun. Through playing, I get ideas and there is something really therapeutic in the feel and sound of the pencil rhythmically moving along the surface of the paper. A sketchbook is not as threatening as the big white canvas, so ideas flow freely.

I have several sketchbooks, two are small enough to carry with me if I want. I will try out ideas, new pens and different drawing styles. I can be as silly as I want. I have another favourite sketchbook, it is an A4 spiral bound book with textured paper and I will often do my pen and pencil sketches in it. Sometimes I will start a drawing, get halfway and just leave it like that. So if you want to draw, then draw and don't worry about mistakes, or feeling "not good enough". You don't have to share them with anyone, just enjoy yourself and have fun.

Cat portrait in pen

It has been a good weekend. I have done quite a bit of drawing. Something I've needed to do for a long time. When I moved from the Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape to Johannesburg 3 years ago, I was 'adopted' by a big ginger tom cat named Nugget. I found out who he actually belonged to, but he wanted to live with me. I officially adopted him from his original owner last year. I have taken hundreds of photos of Nugget, and today I completed this portrait of him using coloured ballpoint pens.

This year I adopted a young abandoned female cat (Abby), so now I have two beautiful cats to keep me company.