how the habit of sketching makes a scaffolding for life

luminous snow shadows     landscape, charcoal, 6"x 6" , 2016      

beth vendryes williams

This fresh new year is taking us by storm! I am in the studio every day working on a new project! My art is evolving as I explore one hundred and five journals created over my lifetime!

We are preparing for some construction, and my former art room  will be  dismantled soon. I have begun to move my journals to my working studio so they would be safe. I ventured  to turn the pages of journals I haven’t looked at in 20 years! Threads of similar themes are revealing themselves. I see gardens, the hours of varying degrees of light, darkness, time of day. There are newspaper photos of people leaving, suffering, going to and coming from war. These images are all threads,rebuilding a scaffold for my art and thoughts over time!

Suddenly I can see what a treasure trove I have. They chart a map of my concerns and investigations over the years, leaving sketches, like blueprints over time. I have documentation of my development as a person/artist.I can see who was an integral part of my life and who was someone I just saw in the street. Mostly I see everyday interactions and places. What a gift to research through. It deepens my work as I observe.

As the exploration accelerates, I am documenting my process and thoughts in my posts as well as in social media. You will see AND have a part in how it unfolds! Add your input, which will help to shape my work!

I hope you have also begun to venture onto your creative path in your life. Never underestimate the importance of that.

Share your explorations and discoveries with me in the comments. You would be surprised how it might help someone who is struggling to make room for creative thinking! Receive update of the process and latest art by subscribing here!