Visual Journal

I've been keeping a visual diary for a few months now. It was inspired by a book I picked up at the library, Creative License by Danny Gregory. It's a clever, honest book about allowing yourself to be creative, specifically relating to observation and drawing. He refers to and has clearly studied Betty Edwards phenomenal book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. This was my favorite textbook in art school. It teaches exercises that will help you learn how to draw what you see, rather than what you think you see (like how we think an eye is shaped exactly like an almond, when in reality it's quite different). It's funny but when I sketch the random, ordinary things that happen in a day – I'm finding that these moments aren't so ordinary at all. Vignettes of a life being lived; moments preserved. As I sketched my son, I was struck by how beautiful he is to me. I observed how careful and precise he was about what he was creating. It made me stop and take stock in the moment. This journal is teaching me how to be more present in my life. I hope you enjoy the sketch-snapshots of my life as I share them from time to time.