Habit for 2016
Greetings! I would like share with you my ideas about a daily habit I’m adopting this 2016. My intention in this post is to outline the why, what and how I’m going to establish this daily habit.
Inspiration
I follow artist Myrna Wacknov’s blog titled her “Creativity Journey”. At the beginning of the year, she wrote that she intends on doing daily iPAD drawings. The purpose is to improve her ability to use digital media. I watched Ms. Wacknov do daily drawings before and was impressed by her results.
What I’m Doing
After reading Myrna’s post, I had the idea to form my own daily habit. I thought I might do daily watercolor and ink studies. That’s most days for a year, or longer. Well, isn’t that the point of a habit, I’m thinking? You make a good habit part of your daily (my) routine.
Why A Daily Habit?
The easy answer is that I’ve seen the positive results that happen when I stick to a daily habit. To explain, years ago I wanted to start a personal exercise program, one I could stick to and would be good for my health. I decided to develop the habit of running every day. With trial and error, I settled on a morning running habit. It helped that my life and work encouraged a morning running routine. What I discovered was that establishing a daily habit helped me move past procrastination and distraction. Plus, I improved my running ability.
Why Watercolor and Ink?
I have good reasons to select watercolor and ink studies as my habit. My big reasons follow.
- Travel. I like doing watercolor and ink studies when my husband and I travel and camp. I want to have a strong habit of doing these studies before we go anywhere. In that way, I’ll make sure I do them! The study from Kershaw-Ryan State Park is an example of a study done on a camping trip.
- Demo. I agreed to do a demonstration of watercolor and ink drawing for a local art society. I better be prepared!
- Study. I like doing the studies!
- Project. I want to resume my “Drawing Talent” project, that is getting in the habit of doing regular watercolor and ink studies of my home town- Talent OR. (See the railroad depot below).
My Plan
Be simple and direct. I figure that’s the best way for me to adopt a good habit. My plan is to do, as a minimum, one study per day in one of the empty watercolor journals I have laying around my studio. That way, I fill the journals. And, I feel free to experiment. Oh, and yes, one needs to have a way to hold oneself accountable. So, here’s the plan.
- Pick a subject for the week. I’ve been using simple still life set ups.
- Start out working in gray. Move to color studies.
- Toward the end of the week, do a painting on good watercolor paper.
- Keep a spread sheet tracking daily drawings.
- Have fun.
January to Date
So far, my plan’s been working for January. I think I have missed a day. When I miss one, then I can always catch up. Or, start again the next day. Skies won’t fall if I miss a day.
I think this is an important point to remember when creating new habits. If a day is missed, I need to make sure I don’t feel like I’ve failed. I just resume the habit the next day or as soon as practical. I define success as most days.
Tracking Results
This past weekend, I was feeling frustrated about my work production. I was feeling like I haven’t been doing anything. Not true! I have lots of drawings and paintings to support my work.
However, I didn’t have any tools that I could look at immediately to see how much work I’ve been doing. Solution? I set up a spreadsheet that I will use to track my daily effort. And, I can see how the dailies fit into my larger plan for 2016.
Next – Draw & Paint!
So, there’s the idea and plan. I’ve included a few of my watercolor and ink drawings to show that I’ve started working. If the habit becomes ingrained, I figure you might see a year end review blog post!
Thank you!
Update, October 1, 2017:
I’d like to share with an article about improving drawing skills, which was my intention with a daily habit. Daily habits work best if they are targeted towards making improvement, sort of a train or work smarter type situation. To see what I mean, I recommend that you check out Jen Reviews article “How To Draw Better”.