Ok so here's the deal...
I've gotten really into learning about habits, building creative rituals, and the creative process.
I'm currently reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit and although I've just started diving into this subject, I'm thoroughly enjoying learning about Tharp's rituals. I'm aware that a number of artists, past and present, have created a habit of sitting at their desk/easel or in their studio for a predetermined amount of time and creating without judgement. During this pandemic, I've started creating daily habits such as healthy eating, working out (I gotta fit into that wedding dress, y'all!), continuing my handstand and flexibility practice, and making art as much as possible.
The latter is what led me down the creativity rabbit-hole. Using myself as a case study,
I will make a drawing-a-day for 63 days (till the world hopefully returns to normal and I return to work, or till it becomes a ritual). In Tharp's book, she mentions her daily habit of waking up in the wee-hours, getting dressed, hailing a cab, and going to the gym. That's commitment, folks! She highlights that the ritual is not the whole process but rather, hailing the cab. Once she's done that, there's no turning back. So as a planner and bullet-journal fiend, I got to outlining my days to come.
Daily habit log (above).
Bullet journal - week I started logging me some habits (right).
So there you have it, my weekly outline. I just hope I go through with it 🤞🏽.
Ok now back to daily drawings. I don't have a ritual established yet, maybe I'll start every blog post by turning on my diffuser, maybe I'll walk and listen to a meditation track... this info is to come, but I do believe that like my buddy Twyla's taxi-hailing, it is necessary to establish pretty soon. Now onto the story behind Day 1 Drawing.
Day 1 - Creative Ritual Beginnings
Meet Anthony, the buffalo. On day one of this new habit, I was stumped (surprise, surprise). What the hey was I going to draw? I had been looking at the same walls, the same plants (one of which was on its way out, sorry oregano!), the same cat, and I didn't really dig the thought of drawing these things. I wanted to dream a little, escape Connecticut for a beat.
I noticed as I sat there that my thoughts tend to immediately go into pattern-mode when I try to come up with a subject matter. In other words, "what can I draw today that I can turn into a pattern tomorrow?" As you can tell, I'm really into patterns. In the bullet journal pic above, you may have noticed a big ol' sign stating that I'll be heading to Montana soon. It'll be my third visit and my second visit in the summer. Oh Montana with its beautiful mountains (duh), colors, and.... buffalo! Boom, I had my subject matter!
I worked off a video that my boo-hunk took when he visited last summer. In it he was stuck in the most delightful traffic jam I've ever heard of because a bunch of bison were slowly making their way down the street like the bosses that they are. If you follow my insta (go do it now, go on... I'll wait) then you know that I work on my iPad using the Apple Pencil on Adobe Draw. That's how I made the sexy beast above starting with its fuzzy head and using the brush tool.
The plan is to make all the daily drawings this way because it's faster and allows for the creation of pattern designs.
So that's the story of Anthony and of day one behind my creative process. Let's see what comes out of this lil' brain next!
Cheers,
Natalie