Wordslye

<pause>

I’m just pausing and reflecting on my behaviour with Internet driven art community networks.

Right at the top of my list of “ugly” behaviours was my obvious addiction to feedback. I was checking Facebook, Instagramm, Sktchy and my Sketchbookskool notifications in increasingly rapid intervals. There came a point where it just wasn’t fun any more, the first thing I’d do in the mornings would be to pick up my smartphone and check the number of “wow”s on Sktchy. That’s actually what made this behaviour so obvious to me and I’d ike to thank the Sktchy app for this precious lesson.

As a bit of input here, I’d read a bit of Danny Gregory’s “Shut your Monkey” and had already read half of George Leonard’s “Mastery” when I noticed the “feedback addiction”. So, I started wondering about what I was actually up to … with my drawing skills and my precious time. Is there really somebody out there I needed or wanted to impress? No.

So, for whom and what reason was I doing all this for?
Well … I had the reason right there … it had trickled into my head while reading Leonard’s book … “I needed no reason to increase my drawing skills, I should just do it, practice, practice, practice and have fun with it” … so, I can just enjoy the ride.
Again, to summarize: I was doing this for me and me only and I should enjoy the ride for the sake of the ride.

– Practice for the sake of practice
– commit to developing my skills
– be patient
– practice even if I see no obvious advance (and appreciate those plateaus)
– don’t mind looking foolish
– be in the moment

Leonard however does argument strongly for finding a very good teacher … I’m considering this … but haven’t taken the correct inital steps to ensure I find one.

Oh, well, but what would a blog post here be without a pic … so I’ve collected most of my Sktchy App pics and arranged them around the latest sketch I made on the back of a calendar (basically just scrap paper) … I must admit, I have also uploaded that pic to Sktchy because I’m hoping to win France’s book “Sketch!” …

[One of my next blog posts will be about gesture practice, I have collected a few thoughts on that.]