Today: What I made | 001

This year, I thought I’d continue to share a weekly look at recent paintings, drawings and illustrations.  Rather than keep posts like this limited to my art journal, I plan to keep things a bit more open-ended, knowing that some weeks I might make time for something really sort of great… and other weeks, I might be lucky to doodle on a napkin.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been caught up in patterns and repetition and have stuck with a single paintbrush, a small palette of watercolors, a few bottles of drawing ink and two identical watercolor sketchbooks.  And 900 paper towels.

These days, my ego is a bit more fragile than usual.  I chock it up to the lack of sleep and constant second-guessing that comes with caring for a newborn and a toddler.  And while I’m so much more confident the second time around, I still catching myself repeating that new mom refrain (be gentle to yourself) over and over.

And so I’m not in the mood to try anything new.  Or risk making something totally ugly.  Or need to clean up a bunch of supplies.  I want to be pleased with what I make.

 There’s something really relaxing about doing the same thing over and over.  And being done when I run out of time or paper or brain power.  This is what gentle art-making looks like for me.

What I made | 001

Materials used: Strathmore 400 series 8.5 x 5.5 bound watercolor sketchbook (I alternate between two identical books to avoid having to wait for paint to dry), Winsor and Newton drawing inks, Winsor and Newton professional watercolor and gouache tubes (set up in a super cheap plastic palette), Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolor brush (size 3 round).

Also On Tap for Today:

• Visiting with Nick’s grandmother before she returns to Portugal
• Catching up on Serial
• The Simple Secret to Finding Beauty via Apartment Therapy

What are you working on?