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Aimless (443)

Amy 100dayproject | Creative Journey | Dip Pen | Featured | Philosophical Threads | Podcast | Productivity , , , , , , , ,

Episode 443: Aimless

Episode 443 of the CMP, a Creativity Matters Podcast — aimlessness, circles, the 100 Day Project, routines, and more.

If you want to be a person who draws every day, then draw every day.

On some level, it’s that simple.

The habit takes work and time and commitment and dedication and belief in the value of all of that work, time, commitment, and dedication. But once you really make it a part of your life, it can stand up effectively when sometimes you waffle or waver.

This show grows out of a current mindset and is fueled, in part, by lots of productivity and habit formation video-watching, book listening, and book reading. Goals? Outcomes for those goals? Tons of to-dos? No?

Doing x, y, and z every day but with no clear goal or forward-thinking reason?

Is that enough?

Go back to the beginning…. goals? Outcomes for those goals? No?

Aimless.

We are 81 days into the 100 Day Project, and that means I’ve been drawing regularly with circles and dip pens for 81 days. These constructs were almost haphazard, a last-minute decision despite a lot of thinking about possible projects. But as far as a sustainable and sustaining 100 Day Project, this has turned out to be a really good fit. I don’t know what I expected to happen with the circles. I didn’t plan from the outset to do all of my drawing in circles. And yet that is, in many ways, what happened.

Some days, I think, “I am so tired of circles!!!!” But I’m really not. As soon as I think it or try and draw a square or a rectangle on a page, it just feels all out of sorts. Probably, I am more tired of dip pen than anything. I have a love-hate relationship there, for sure. Partly, it has been good, at least the maru nib has. And partly, it has been frustrating in some ways. I loaded a new Zebra-G nib the other day, and despite having cleaned it with alcohol several times, I just can’t get it to hold ink or write. The very fine maru nib sets my teeth on edge (it’s true), but it also delivers a fine line. It doesn’t have any grace to its movements. It doesn’t like curves or circles or anything that deviates from straight. But, for the most part, I’ve adapted and acclimated.

The circles though…. I love the circles. I love them for drawing, for portraits, for filling with a snippet of other sketches, and for putting in words, notes, dinner, quotes, and more. A week of 6-word summaries ended up in circles, and that was so compelling that I think I should always journal that way. The same week, a list of adjectives (for #illustrateyourweek) ended up in circles, and that was so satisfying to do that I left the rest of the page to just fill in whenever the urge strikes. (In this podcast, I talk a bit about a full-page grid I have wanted to do and tried to do 2 years ago as a tagalong daily project to record a certain transition. That was a squares-based idea, and now I’m contemplating with circles how to do similar things.)

There’s a lot of meandering in this show about circles, aimlessness, routine and repetition, and the virtues of being in motion, even if the motion is a repeated circular path rather than one that advances.

Drawing in the car… always good. The beach road being closed…. not good. The seagulls and crows (or ravens, maybe) carrying off plastic Easter eggs…. unexpected and memorable.

Randoms

  1. This recent video was an interesting experiment in ink swatching and shows some really pretty magenta inks. It’s hard not to love these inks! (The backstory.) Inks included: Noodler’s Cactus Fruit Eel, Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Budo, Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses, Diamine Deep Magenta, Diamine Syrah, Monteverde Gratitude, J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen.
  2. I finished the first three books in the series I am reading, and I found myself stalled. The next book starts a new series within this overall series, and I just couldn’t dive into a completely new location and new people. (I was really attached to the characters from the first trilogy; they do come back in later books.) I’ve used several graphic novels as a palate cleanser, and I hoping to sit and reach and get past the hurdle of “diving in” soon. I miss the “all in” reading experience these books have offered. What did I read in between? Sheets and Delicates and (currently) Luisa. (Note: All of these were available as e-books on Hoopla from the library.)
  3. That I can’t even think of 5 things to list seems to be part and parcel to this show….

 

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