I haven't sketched a single solitary thing in probably 30 years.
I used to sketch and draw all the time when I was a kid and into my early teens. If I wasn't drawing, I was writing. Art was my second favourite subject at school, after English.
I remember there was a kid called Mark at school who was also good at drawing and sketching. We had very different styles, but we ended up locked in some kind of battle-of-the-artworks. Or should I say he was the one who seemed to want to be in competition with me, whether or not I invited it. He won with our peers because he was more popular and had a more modern, comic-like style. I won with the teachers because I was more attentive and studious in class. I wasn’t especially competitive in those days. I just enjoyed drawing and had very little ego about it.
Today I passed a set of sketching pencils in the store and thought, I fancy drawing something. And then we got home and I found myself immediately ripping open the packet like a kid and sitting down across from Daisy while she ate lunch, scratching the soft point across the page while she studied me with interest.
As you can see, I am very out of practice, and my subject wouldn’t keep still. (She was eating after all.) But there was something about having that pencil in my hand again...
… soul-reviving magic.
I said this would be the year of peace and ease. This isn’t what I thought I’d have to go through to get there, but I’m learning to notice the glimmers and step into the light when it arrives.