Big batch of September sketches

As you can see, I was in a rather pensive mode in the middle of last week.

On Sunday, I did a bunch of quick sketches of people in church in my little Moleskine again.  It's a lot easier to draw the folks sitting in the pews than it is to draw the musicians and the pastors, who keep moving on me.  

When I'm out of the house, I'm usually drawing with a ballpoint pen.  At home, I tend to use pencil, at least for preliminary sketching.  I think I'll try practicing more with using the pen at the outset.  See if I can develop a more confident ink line.

Now I need to go do my sketch for today.  I'll post it with my next batch.

200th post(!!!) and Sketch-a-day September: Day 1

Hello all!  It's hard to believe -- especially considering I haven't posted since July -- that this is my 200th blog post.  Thanks for visiting and making it all seem worthwhile!  Raise your coffee mugs and toast yourselves!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted.  I've just started the first draft of a brand new novel, and it is consuming a great deal of creative energy.  I came up for air a few days ago and saw that one of my fellow bloggers, Coreopsis, is doing an art challenge: 29 Faces in September.  (You should check out the blog; there are some great pieces up already!)  That got me thinking about how I have trouble drawing with regularity when I'm starting into a new novel.  A simple daily challenge for the month may be just the ticket for re-instilling a daily sketching habit.

So here is my first sketch for Sketch-a-day September:

As you can see (or I hope you can see), I drew this in church during the sermon.  I keep this small Moleskine in my purse at all times.  (I wish more folks would sit in the pews like the guy at the top.  His was a much more interesting pose to draw.)

The Sketch-a-day September Challenge:  I have decided that my Sketch-a-day sketch can be as simple or complex as I feel up to making it or have time for that day.  I can spend just three minutes on the piece or three hours.  Multi-tasking is fine (drawing while riding the subway or listening to a sermon or sitting in a meeting or watching TV or talking on the phone). And any subject matter will do (I'm not interested in limiting my challenge to faces).  From life or from imagination.  Realistic or abstract.  The sketch can even be a half-assed effort, but it can't be so bad that I won't share it here. But I must draw one (at least) sketch per day, and I must post it on the blog. No whipping out seven sketches on the weekend and then posting them spread out over the week.  (Although it may have to be acceptable to sketch each weekday and post all the efforts on the weekend.  This challenge is about instilling a habit of sketching each day -- not scanning and posting each day.)  I WILL sketch EVERY DAY, even if I'm under the weather.

Feel free to join me, or join Coreopsis in the 29 faces challenge.  Perhaps you have some other trick you use to keep motivated.  If so, please share it in the comments!