Now, it has to be said, the title made me rebel a bit. It's the 'permission' bit. I've always been 'permitted' to make art, but up until a few years ago I just never really thought of myself as capable of doing anything like that. The word just makes me itch a bit. But once you get over that part, it is an absolute awesome book!
Last summer I wrote about Gregory's book Everyday matters, and the same, if not more, is true of Creative License; it's a book that inspires you to finally get a pen and paper out and start drawing already! (Notice I said pen and not pencil, Danny Gregory feels that you learn more from drawing with pen than with a pencil you can erase.)
In this book Gregory talks about all the reasons people don't draw. They don't see the point, they don't have the time, they just can't do it. And then he explains how, even with as little as a few minutes a day (but hey, Daily don't work for me!), you can do simple drawings while actually looking at your objects instead of thinking you know what you're seeing. He shows you where in your busy day you could find the time to set aside a few minutes to do these drawings, and even thinks of what you could draw. And then a large part of the book is about keeping an illustrated journal and how that can benefit you.
Now I am currently working on my Art Journal number 10, in which I draw and paint and write in and stick stuff down in. It's not the same as a journal with just your own drawings. It's a completely different style. It reminds me a bit of Urban Sketching, which I am still working on from home.
The sketchpads I bought will be used for these drawings inspired by daily life, with some writing thrown in. I'm not giving up on Art Journaling at all, but I think this is something I want to explore for a while and see where it will take me.
And to start things off, here's my first drawing of the year:
Thank you Danny Gregory for being such an inspiration.
I keep seeing you say, "Daily don't work for me," but I know of tons of stuff you do daily. Sleep, eat, drink water... Make your art like that. ;)
ReplyDeleteI do do art related stuff daily, in one way or the other. I draw or paint or take pictures or blog about it or plan for future projects.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that I don't want to say 'I will do this Every Single Day' because I'll end up feeling bad if for some reason I miss a day or two or four. That is why 'Create Every Day for X-number of Days' projects don't work for me.