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| 12/5/12 Velvet Black ink, Hand Book journal |
For several years before I began sketching, I occasionally considered
whether blogging would be a productive pastime. As someone who took pleasure in
writing as well as made my primary income from writing, I figured that coming
up with post ideas would be relatively easy for me. But would it be fun, engaging
and creative? Or would I eventually become bored and find blogging to be a
tedious obligation?
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| 11/16/12 Zig markers, Stillman & Birn sketchbook |
As a professional writer, the first question I always ask
when I’m about to begin an assignment is: Who is the audience? If I blogged,
who, indeed, would be my audience? I had seen many blogs that read like
personal diaries – incessant naval-gazing, whining or hand-wringing that had me
running quickly from the page. I assumed that the primary (perhaps sole)
audience of such blogs is the writer himself/herself. I have kept a private journal most of my life that I had no need to share, and the last thing I
wanted was a blog like that.
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| 10/23/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor |
There was also the question of purpose. Again, if I were
writing for, say, a magazine, I would ask: Is my article trying to inform,
persuade, engage? Would I have enough informative, persuasive or engaging blog
content to maintain on a regular basis? (Hmmm, that was beginning to sound like
a lot of unpaid work.)
With these questions of audience, purpose and motivation
running through my head, I never found a compelling reason to answer them, so I
stayed out. No need to clog the blogosphere with yet another pointless blog.
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| 8/11/12 Pitt Artists Pen, Hand Book |
When I finally decided to poke back by developing a
drawing habit, I kept my sketches to myself for several months. But I kept
thinking about how inspiring it was to peek into other people’s sketchbooks and
what a lonely sketching world it would be without the Internet. I took to heart
the seventh part of the Urban Sketchers’ manifesto, “We share our drawings online,” and began posting a few sketches here and there in art and sketching
forums, which seemed safe enough.
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| 7/16/12 Kuretake Brush Writer |
Eventually, those questions related to blogging popped up
again. Who would be my audience? I decided that an audience of one – myself – was
sufficient, because the primary purpose I identified was documentation. I didn’t feel a need to inform, persuade or engage
so much as to track my own progress and process as a sketcher. And if even one reader gained inspiration or
encouragement to begin sketching, then that would be a
bonus.
A blog would keep me honest, mainly with myself. That meant
that I would post any sketch that I had something to say about, whether or not
I deemed it to be “good enough” for public consumption. Posting a sketch I really hated or that showed no progress (in fact, regression!) in my skills
would take some courage. But if my blog is intended as documentation of a
process, it would be pointless to exhibit only “good” sketches.
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| 6/21/12 Pitt Artists Pen |
A year ago today, Fueled
by Clouds & Coffee went live. What have I learned from a year of
blogging?
1.
It’s
immensely rewarding to see progress over time. At the age of 54, I’m not
proud to say that I can hardly think of examples of skills I’ve learned where
progress was the result of regular practice (I can think of examples of the reverse). Certainly, I’ve
become more proficient at some skills over time, but I don’t have documentation that tracked my progress
or the process on how I got from one place to another. Now I do.
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| 11/29/12 Platinum Sepia ink, Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook |
2. Blogging
is an opportunity to learn and tell the story. The second part of the Urban
Sketchers’ manifesto is, “Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the
places we live and where we travel.” Whether the subject is a water tower,
an orangutan or a poet, every sketch has a story, no matter how
brief, and my job is to find and tell it. If I’m sketching an historic structure, a memorial or a work of public art, I’m forced to
do research so that I’ll have something to write about, even if that research
consists of nothing more than a Google search or reading a placard. When I
think of how many times I’d driven past the Maple Leaf Water Tower or Ballard
Centennial Bell Tower without knowing anything about them, that tiny bit of
research and the time it takes to make the sketches open up my world a little
more. I used to worry that I wouldn’t have enough to say about a sketch, but I’ve
decided that the stories don’t have to be long or profound. They just have to
be honest.
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| 11/27/12 Diamine Grey ink, Stillman & Birn Epsilon |
3.
I enjoy
writing blog posts almost as much as I enjoy sharing sketches. One motivates
the other. Writing personal reflections (as opposed to for a paycheck) has
always been a pleasure (accounting for the motivation behind my lifelong
journal-keeping), so the joy I derive from blog writing doesn’t surprise me.
What I hadn’t expected is that writing has almost become an integral part of
sketching. While I’m sketching, I’m not thinking about anything except the
sketch. But immediately thereafter – driving home from an Urban Sketchers
sketchcrawl, or walking through Woodland Park Zoo back to my car – I’m already
composing the blog post in my head. I’m already thinking about what I learned
from the sketch or the experience that I can write about. The sketch motivates
the writing. By the time I sit down at my laptop, the post practically writes
itself. And related to that…
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| 2/7/13 Diamine Chocolate Brown, Stillman & Birn Gamma |
4. Apart
from its support of my sketching, blogging reminds me of why I write. Decades
ago, I wrote fiction and poetry, earned degrees in creative writing and, like
probably everyone else in my creative writing program, had a fantasy about
supporting myself with such writing. I continued to write creatively for
several years after leaving school and entering the “real” (that is, “work”)
world. But the truth is, creative writing is too hard to also be fun if you
have to do it while earning a living some other way. I eventually stopped. I
was fortunate that I was able to find a career using my writing skills, but
then writing became my bread-and-butter, not a vehicle for self-expression.
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| 3/12/13 Diamine Eclipse ink, Hand Book journal |
Then I started blogging. Without
realizing I had even missed that form of self-expression, blogging tapped into
and satisfied whatever need drove me to become a writer in the first place.
Thank you for reading my blog so far! There’s a lot more ahead
in my sketching adventure, and I hope you’ll continue to join me for it.
