What I didn’t expect would happen...

I’m proud to say I completed all 30 days of the #tinkersketch sketchbook challenge in April!  Wahoo!  This challenge was just what I needed.  See, as you may have read in my earlier posts, I experienced some health issues this past fall and winter that caused my busy life to come to a halt and made me reflect on what I truly need to focus on. Throughout these past few months, I have become better at saying “no" (which has been so hard for me) and committing to make two things a priority: physical therapy for my body and creating art for my mind.

I had already bought myself an attractive sketchbook when I stumbled across TinkerLab’s fabulous website and daily sketchbook challenge. This challenge provided me with daily prompts for each day of the month. I had expected that I would enjoy the process and that it would give me some ideas for creating in my new sketchbook.  However, I can honestly tell you what I didn’t expect from daily art journal creating is:

• that I would find other participating artists that continue to inspire me even after the sketchbook challenge
• that each “like” of my images on instagram would add so much happiness to my day and provide encouragement to create another sketch the next day
• that during the process, my confidence would increase by pushing me outside of my comfort zone and trying out new or forgotten media. So much so, that I just created a small watercolor painting as a birthday gift for a friend which was received very positively. Before the challenge, I hadn’t worked in watercolor for years and there is no way I would have even thought of creating the painting as a gift, let alone in watercolor!

I would definitely encourage you to take on a daily sketchbook challenge when the opportunity arises and be surprised with what you will learn!

Have you participated in a sketchbook challenge before? Do you practice daily art journaling?  Please share about your experience, what you have learned from the process and what helps you stay committed.

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