What I didn’t expect would happen...

I’m proud to say I completed all 30 days of the #tinkersketch sketchbook challenge in April!  Wahoo!  This challenge was just what I needed.  

See, as you may have read in my earlier posts, I experienced some health issues this past fall and winter that caused my busy life to come to a halt and made me reflect on what I truly need to focus on.

Throughout these past few months, I have become better at saying “no" (which has been so hard for me) and committing to make two things a priority: physical therapy for my body and creating art for my mind.

I had already bought myself an attractive sketchbook when I stumbled across TinkerLab’s fabulous website and daily sketchbook challenge. This challenge provided me with daily prompts for each day of the month.

I had expected that I would enjoy the process and that it would give me some ideas for creating in my new sketchbook.  However, I can honestly tell you what I didn’t expect from daily art journal creating is:

• that I would find other participating artists that continue to inspire me even after the sketchbook challenge
• that each “like” of my images on instagram would add so much happiness to my day and provide encouragement to create another sketch the next day
• that during the process, my confidence would increase by pushing me outside of my comfort zone and trying out new or forgotten media. So much so, that I just created a small watercolor painting as a birthday gift for a friend which was received very positively. Before the challenge, I hadn’t worked in watercolor for years and there is no way I would have even thought of creating the painting as a gift, let alone in watercolor!

I would definitely encourage you to take on a daily sketchbook challenge when the opportunity arises and be surprised with what you will learn!

Have you participated in a sketchbook challenge before? Do you practice daily art journaling?  

Please share about your experience, what you have learned from the process and what helps you stay committed in the comments. I'd love to hear!

Thank you for following my art journey!
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