Hello friends,
I hope life has been treating you well lately.
I will be honest—art has been on the back burner for the past few weeks. I’ve struggled to even do much in my sketchbook. I’ve been wrapping up a huge project with work and I’ve also been mentally oppressed with too much evil being shown to me in social media. For two weeks now, I have been plagued with intrusive thoughts and anxiety and it’s really gotten me down. Rather than drawing in the evenings after work, I found it easier to distract myself with watching tv, which is unusual for me.
Finally, I said enough is enough and I opened up my sketchbook a few times. I had to just start something to break this negative cycle I have been in mentally. Now that I have done a few pages in my sketchbook, I think I will be able to get started on some of my pending projects.
I did a spread in my sketchbook based on my photos from my week away in Rhode Island this past September. I took many photos of the winding paths at Sakonnet Garden and I enjoyed translating one of my photos into a pen and ink drawing with all the layers and different textures of leaves.
Art is to console those who are broken by life. –Vincent Van Gogh
Recently, I bought some acrylic markers to try out so I have been experimenting with them a bit as well. They are kind of fun, but overall not suited to the style I generally work in. They feel awkward to me, and they are not good for detailed work. Still, it is a good exercise to try something new and right now I am trying to finish this sketchbook so I’m okay with filling pages.
One small thing that I was pleased with lately is that Substack has allowed us to change the size of the header wordmark on our pages and make some other customizations. I was always displeased by the miniature size of the wordmark in the past. The first thing I did when I logged in was make mine bigger, maybe too big. I’ll most likely play around with it more in the future.
Some links for you on the theme of getting outside in the winter
The Benefits of Cold Weather Walking by Nina Veteto of Blue Ridge Botanic
Winter Nature Diary (2025/2026) from Ali Edwards of Drawn to Nature
A Real Winter - a collection of winter themed photographs from Benjamin Williamson Photography.
Sketching Winter Trees by Louisa Downing of Sketching the Seasons
Until next time,
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