This post is an excerpt from the Radical Drawing Newsletter. If you would like to receive these emails, you can sign up at the end of the page.
Welcome back to the Radical Drawing Newsletter!
We are starting the second week of January, the beginning of a new Gregorian year. This time of year can represent an opportunity to start something new… if you’re into that kind of thing.
Personally, I love a new beginnings. Transformation fascinates me! Here are some things I have learned about change:
- Change is natural. All of our ecosystems move through cycles of change like seasons, and water cycles. When I notice myself changing it feels validating. I love to see myself reflecting our ever-changing universe.
- Change is constant. You can try to avoid it but you are going to change anyway. No. Matter. What. So we might as well choose how we change when we can!
- Change is gradual. What may look like a big transformation is actually the result of a million minuscule things that happened before. Change is made of small decisions and micro habits that add up into something else eventually.
That is why people set resolutions or intentions at the New Year. We can change our habits to change our lives, using the container of this year. This idea can be daunting. A year is a long time! Because we are always changing, it follows that our schedules, capacities, and motivations change too. Even our goals can change over the course of a year! It feels rigid to commit to one particular change for that long.
Designer, artist, and teacher Sarah Faith Gottesdiener suggests working with small cycles of time. Sarah has developed a practice that works with a moon cycle, approximately one month, around a goal or intention. I’ve used her Moonbeaming approach in my practice, and it was awesome! I made some amazing changes over that time frame.
But what about even smaller, more manageable cycles? What would happen if you did some small practice every day for one week?
That’s the project I am working on now:
Draw Every Day This Week
Our days are made of countless small actions and decisions. They add up to create the shapes and textures of our lives. What we choose to practice every day matters. When we make even a small space for our creativity it will thrive! Drawing every day is one way we can make this space.
You can draw whatever, however you want. It can be scribbles, or random shapes. Try drawing for seven days and then see what happens next!
The latest Radical Drawing Workbook is based on this idea! It is designed to facilitate a week-long drawing practice.
One side has info about radical drawing, and the other side has 7 blank pages to draw on! It’s small, which keeps it manageable. You can take it anywhere!
We just sold out of the first run at the Bodega, but I am printing more, and they should be restocked soon. They will be in the web shop too!
So what’s the small change you want to make? Or a habit you would like to build? Can you make it happen even a tiny bit, every day, for this week?
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you on the other side.
Isa Be