I am proud of how, I have kept, my creative resolution, this past month. I spent a lot of my creative time, painting in acrylics, which is something I’ve wanted to focus on, for a while. In a short amount of time, I’ve refined my skills and I’m happy with my progress. I plan on continuing with acrylics, in the next few months.

Another part of my resolution was, filling my sketchbook, which I’ve been lax about. I’ve done 12 sketches, which might sound decent, until I admit that, four of them were done in one day, and most were done right after the first of the year. If my resolution was dieting, I surely wouldn’t be losing any weight!

Yesterday, I did a quick sketch. As I sketched my running sneakers, I decided to renew my resolution to sketch more, and decided I would do quick five minute sketches. It’s an experiment in “what can I accomplish in a short time?” It also feels like, less of a commitment, if I only have to pick up the book for five minutes. I don’t want projects, in my sketchbook, “hanging over my head.” As I’ve mentioned before, I’m great at starting projects, but it takes real effort, on my part, to finish them. I just want the sketchbook to be, practice time or a way of keeping track of ideas.

For the past month, I’ve kept my sketchbook on my nightstand, which has been a great reminder. I’ll continue to do this, but now I plan on picking it up more often! I’m interested in hearing from you! How do you guarantee you spend time on your projects? Do you allocate a certain time each day, or week? Do you work on a project from start to finish or in bits and pieces, like me?

My sneakers caught my eye yesterday, because, drawing shoes, was one of the first projects in my first drawing class (several years ago). My teacher, Eva, was a thin, fragile, soft spoken, much older woman. The first day of class, I hate to admit this, I looked at her and thought, is she 90? Am I going to learn anything?

Needless to say, Eva proved me wrong. Within a week or two, I had an “aha” moment and my drawings went from outlines to shaded, three-dimensional looking objects. I loved Eva, she taught me so much and was so supportive. I enrolled in her class, several times and was very sad when she retired. I certainly learned not to judge a book by its cover!

When Eva asked that we bring in a pair of old shoes to draw, I chose my son’s worn baby shoes. I went on to draw my daughter’s first ballet shoes and much later, my other son’s soccer cleats. I think Eva thought worn shoes were a great subject, because of all the nooks and crannies. There is so much shading and detail to add. I think shoes are hard to draw! Getting the perspective and foreshortening to look right, is a real challenge.