Daily Doodle: Week 1

homespun by laura daily doodle ladybug colored pencil sketch sketchbook

One of my goals for 2016 is to do some kind of art every day.  Anything that will help me to improve my artistic skills (as I haven’t drawn on a regular basis since middle school) is fair game:  the Daily Doodle can be as simple as a quick 10-minute sketch or as involved as a full watercolor painting that takes two hours, or anything in between.

I technically have already failed at this goal, having missed a couple of days (a few of which I have already ‘made up’), but I’m not worried about that.  I have plenty of time to catch up and finish out the year with 366 drawings (this is a leap year!)

The desired outcomes of this project are:

  1. Improve my drawing ability.  Often, I have an idea in my head that I want to either use as an example on the blog or show to the Mister to get my point across on a potential project.  I do okay with project sketches, but I would like to do better.
  2. Practice with and expand my skill set with watercolors.  I used to love painting with watercolors, and then I took about a 15-year break.  When I worked on the Mister’s birthday gift in August, I really enjoyed them and kept looking forward to the next opportunity I would have to sit down and paint. Often, my work tends to look a little cartoon-y and one-dimensional, and I would like them to look less flat and more realistic.  But if cartoon-y is my style, then that’s my style, and daily practice will reveal/confirm it…and perhaps encourage me to work WITH it instead of against it.
  3. Enjoy dabbling in art again, taking the time to SIT down and be creative in a different way than usual (while continuing to DIY, sew, etc!).
  4. Have a selection of artwork by the end of the year to use for gifts and blog projects (See the blog header?  I painted those items in October to represent the different categories of projects I share here).  I wanted to make a 2016 calendar last month to give to family as a Christmas gift, but I waited too late to start it and was rushing to get it done.  By the time I had completed the first four pieces, I politely told myself that there wasn’t time to get it done.  By working throughout the year this year, I’ll have plenty to choose from for 2017!
To keep myself honest, I’ll share my Daily Doodles here (as well as on social media).  Without further ado, here are the Daily Doodles for January 1-7!  You can also visit each one on Instagram to read its original caption – click the link below each photo.
 
January 1
 
homespun by laura daily doodle ladybug colored pencil sketch sketchbook

Today’s drawing represents the new year and a new project – and also all the ladybugs that live in our office space.  When I started cleaning it out last year, I came upon a little ladybug graveyard with the vacuum cleaner, and even now, a few will come to join me every week, not realizing it’s the last place they’ll ever visit.  View on Instagram

 

 

January 2

The first of my cheat days…We celebrated Christmas with my family today and someone gave my dad a book about Charles Shulz, which led him to pull out an older book he had about the Peanuts creator.  Inside that book was this little drawing of Charlie Brown I did as a child and I couldn’t resist sharing it.  Plus, between finishing up some Christmas gifts and traveling, there wasn’t much time for a doodle today.  What I still wonder is 1-Why is Charlie Brown reading a book about going to space? and 2- What is he thinking? I didn’t fill his thought bubble when I drew him.  Good grief! 🙂  View on Instagram


January 3
 
homespun by laura daily doodle plant stand cabinet pencil sketch sketchbook
This little blue cabinet of my grandmother’s now lives at my parents’ house and functions as a plant stand.  I did a quick sketch of a simplified version of it between church and a baby shower this afternoon.  I’d like to do it again as a watercolor in the future.  View on Instagram
I’m also adding its worn handles (shown above) to my list of things to draw or paint in the future.  This would be a great practice for producing a detailed and dimensional watercolor.
 
January 4
 
homespun by laura daily doodle bowl of soup pencil sketch sketchbook
I still work part-time at my old job, and January is a busy time in the health and fitness industry, so I’ll be working more than usual for the next month or so.  Today, I worked until almost 9pm and came home drained.  The Mister hadheated up leftover tomato tortellini soup (I substitute diced tomatoes for the sun-dried tomatoes) and made grilled cheese sandwiches, which were all waiting for me when I got home.  I did a quick sketch of my dinner in between servings for today’s Doodle.  I practiced drawing without erasing today, which made me more careful with each line I drew (and produced a much quicker outcome on this late-night-halfway-through-dinner sketch!).  View on Instagram


January 5
 
homespun by laura daily doodle stopwatch pencil sketch sketchbook

After dinner tonight, I took my watch off and sketched it out.  While considering what I could draw, I realized how many times I had looked at it during the day to make sure I got where I needed to go on time:  I started my day with an early shift starting from 7-11, then went for a run, came home for a quick shower and lunch, then headed back to work from 3 until 8:30…Like I said, January’s a busy time in the fitness world!  Again, I practiced the ‘don’t erase’ method.  View on Instagram


January 6
 
homespun by laura daily doodle bassinet cover project plan sketch

This is a great example of what I’m talking about when I say I’d like to improve my skills so I can make a sketch of a project plan for my own reference and for sharing with others.  Sure, I did this one in pen in about 30 seconds; it wasn’t meant to be a masterpiece or even seen by anyone but me.  But then I spent a good portion of my day ironing the fabric and creating this bassinet cover for some really special people, and I decided today’s Doodle should represent that, so here it is.  View on Instagram

And here are a couple shots of the real deal!

 

 

 
January 7
 
homespun by laura daily doodle thread spool watercolor drawing
Today’s Doodle started out as a quick sketch, then turned into a watercolor a few days later, along with a couple others as I caught up after a couple days of not drawing due to traveling for some baby showers for that special couple mentioned above.  View on Instagram

Doodle summary  
I’m on track!   
This week’s Doodle total: 7
 
Yearly Doodle total: 7

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of Daily Doodles!  

 
Laura