WR #1
It’s my first weekly review! And it’s quite a week to start. We got about 9 inches of snow at our place in Knoxville Sunday night (1/14/24). It’s a week later, and schools are still closed today! So it ended up being a really quiet week - we couldn’t go anywhere and nobody was using their office at the building. Which gave me lots of time to dive into my art goals for the coming year. It was awesome!
Nick and I have been in a whirlwind the last 3 years: 2020 was COVID - we stopped RVing and moved to Fairhope, 2021 was renovating our Fairhope house… and deciding to move to Knoxville, 2022 was closing on the building in Knoxville and starting renovations, and 2023 was a full-blown year of DIY renovations on the building.
God has been so good to us and sustained us throughout all these transitions and more. But coming into 2024, I felt the need for some time and space to just think and make art. And God provided with an entire Snowpocolypse week!
This website, my 2024 planning post, and this format for a weekly review all came out of my snow week. In addition to all my art stra-teger-izing 🙃, I also got to deep dive into Emma Carlisle’s Patreon… something I’ve been neglecting for all of 2023.
Needless to say, I’m feeling very thankful, refreshed, and excited for my art practice in 2024!
Last week’s focus
PLANNING! And also trying to set a good precedent for daily studio time.
Helpful inputs/ resources from the week
Emma Carlisle live drawing session replays + her “Before & After” videos
The “Before & After” videos have been a huge unlock… After I work through drawing an image, it’s super helpful to see how Emma approached the same image in her sketchbook.
Furry Little Peach, especially her “My Secret to Productivity” Youtube video. But all her videos are really fun and she inspires me to take quick action on art and design projects.
Mimimoo Illustration - Her video “Overcoming Doubts as a Beginner Artist” was super helpful and encouraging. I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting it regularly when I need a little pick-me-up.
STUDIO TIME LOG
Monday | 01-15-2024
Planning Zine… all the details are in the 2024 Planning post, but here are a few highlights:
PEOPLE I WANT TO LEARN FROM - I’m experiencing a little “inspo overload” from Instagram scrolling. So I made a list of artists that I’m going to focus on learning from… If I’m going to take a class in 2024, it has to be from somebody on this list. And I’m off Instagram for the year. I’m also keeping a list of people I might want to learn from in 2025 to help with my FOMO and monkey brain. :)
PRIMARY SOURCES OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT (+ convo with Nick on budgeting to pay for these)
STUDIO HOURS + LEARNING SCHEDULE
Aiming for 6- 7AM studio hours
I’ve actually simplified my learning schedule since a made my zine a few days ago. Now I’m basically aiming to do an Emma Carlisle live call replay every week day, followed up by watching the corresponding “Before & After” video while drinking my coffee the next morning. Then Saturday and Sunday will be for more focused skill learning from PKR and Liz Steel.
Tuesday | 01-16-2024
Emily Powell "Apples on a Plate” workshop replay
This was so fun! Definitely want to make sure I’m doing at least one of these workshops per month. Emily’s approach is especially helpful for my type-A, rule following brain.
Wednesday | 01-17-2024
Emma Carlisle “Evening Pairs Club” replay
Thursday | 01-18-2024
Nothing official - just a quick beetle sketch and sheepdog sketch inspired by Hamlyn’s illustrated Animal World Encyclopedia
Friday | 01-19-2024
Emma Carlisle “Breakfast Cottage Club” replay (first 30 minutes)
Saturday | 01-20-2024
Deep dive on Emma Carlisle material and color palette videos… ordered some new supplies 🤗
Sunday | 01-21-2024
Emma Carlisle “Breakfast Cottage Club” replay (finished this up from Friday)
Setup a template for my Weekly Reviews
SKETCHBOOK REVIEW
January 21, 2024
What question did I ask my sketchbook with this spread?
How can I branch out in my color selection while still being mindful of value (lightness and darkness of the color)?
How do I feel about it overall?
There’s a HUGE gap between what I want this to look like vs. what it looks like in reality. BUT I’m really proud of myself for pushing through the process. This was a picture of Edinburgh that Emma Carlisle provided in her Cottages call, and it was really tough! It was very monochromatic (basically all grays) and a very architecturally complicated building. It was eye opening how much learning I need to do regarding value… it’s harder to see than you think!
What am I curious about?
I wonder how this would have played out if I laid down abstract shading for the buildings before doing the line work. I also wonder what would have happened if I started with the building first instead of the tree framing the shot. I’m excited to tackle images like this once I’ve done more focused learning on value and shadow!
What do I want to carry forward?
Bravery! I used a mix of colors that’s out of my comfort zone. I pushed through feelings of overwhelm that crept up just looking at the complicated inspiration photo. I used a great mix of materials, which I think is really fun (Liquitex markers, neocolors, color pencils… I think that’s it). This was a great challenge!
FINAL WRAP UP
What has God taught me this week about glorifying Him through my art?
That even my ugliest pieces of artwork can glorify Him.
What am I excited about/ what’s my plan for next week? Any changes to initial 2024 planning?
I’ve had dedicated art time every day, but it hasn’t been on a regular schedule. I’m excited for Nick and I to get back to our morning routine, and for my studio time to be in the morning consistently.
I’m considering taking only one Liz Steel course (probably the watercolor one) instead of buying the three class bundle. That way I’d be able to work more Emily Powell workshops into my routine, from a time and money perspective. I planned to purchase the Liz Steel bundle in March… so we’ll just see how I’m feeling when I get there. It probably depends on how much the PKR Foundations material gives me to chew on. I really want to balance developing technical skills while still allowing myself plenty of time to just have fun.
Woot woot! First Weekly Review is done! Time to go make some more art. :)
