For the past few years, I’ve tried to have some sort of daily art practice. There are a few factors that seem to determine whether it will stick or not. Flexibility is key - if I go away/miss a day, will I destroy the project’s integrity, or my own? Is it open ended? The broad challenge to make a daily 10 minute collage worked for almost two years, but a 100 day prompt of gardening images barely made it a week. Am I enjoying it? Contrary to the no pain no gain mentality, trying to push through a block that doesn’t want to move isn’t fruitful for a practice that’s supposed to be an enjoyable time in the day.
Since the end of August, I’ve been working on my latest practice, which is a compilation of doodles of my week. There are no rules - I start with the date and move around the page. As an added bonus, I’ve been using my neglected fountain pens and ink. Waterproof ink means that I can go back at the end of the week and watercolor the page if I feel like it. The key was finding the right size and shape of sketchbook to make the page feel like enough space for the week, but not like a herculean task to fill it. I’m in a good groove with this practice, and even when I was traveling, or sick, I was still able to keep going because of the minimal daily commitment. At the beginning, it was more a record of events, and it’s evolved to include a record of feelings as well. The pages are satisfying in their busyness. It helps me to remember what happens, week by week. And it’s a good chance to take a quiet minute, move my hands, and see what appears.
I’m okay with the fact that as well as this practice works for me now, it might not work next week, or next month. I take it week by week, checking in to see if I’m still fulfilled by my current way of working so I can be flexible enough to make a change when I’m ready.