Doodle June Reflections: Let’s Make Art Fun Again!
For the month of June, I participated in a personal challenge which I titled Doodle June (you can read more about it here). For this personal challenge I made the commitment to myself to engage in drawing for the 30 days of the month, making space every day to just draw - whether it was an object in front of me, an abstract shape using different colors, a figure I made up in my mind, inspiration from Pinterest, etc. The point wasn’t to get better at drawing, something many of us may struggle with, but rather to bring back a sense of joy and play into the experience.
In this commitment to myself and my drawing practice, there were a couple of things I learned.
Making art is fun
Even on the days that I struggled to feel like the art I made was compositionally or artistically “correct” I was still able to find the joy in the experience. Having the practice be a daily one, helped to remind me the joy that comes from the art-making experience.
I always felt better after
Similar to the point above, no matter what my art looked like, I always felt better after I did my drawing for the day. Some days I felt happier, others I felt lighter, some I even felt more connected to my inner child.
I CAN draw
So often I have told myself (or said about myself) “I can’t draw” and that simply isn’t true. Are my drawings always of the perfect line quality, realistic, compositionally accurate, etc? - no, maybe not but that doesn’t mean that I can’t draw. I can draw because I am able (physically and mentally) to put the material on the paper and create something with it.
This is a great reminder for all the times we tell ourselves we “can’t” do something to take a step back and see if that really is true.
It is not always possible to do something perfectly - and that is OKAY.
Whether it was actually doing the practice every day, trying to get the shade or size perfect - more often than not it did not happen. And guess what? It was okay anyways. You may read this and say, yeah, duh! But when there is (even the smallest bit) of your perfectionist side that is present, they usually want to tell you otherwise.
Another beautiful reminder that getting it started or done is just as, or more important than the outcome.
Exposure is necessary
If I had not experimented and tried different materials in my daily doodles, I would not have discovered or remembered what materials I enjoy most. This helped me to identify where I had more fun, what struggle using and what content I liked to draw.
A gentle reminder to give ourselves the chance to try new things, it may very well be the thing we enjoy the most.
I am capable of doing hard/scary things - we all are!
We may stop ourselves from doing something because it feels hard or scary, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do it. This whole process was a reminder of all the things I can do, more than the very few that felt more challenging or closer to that “can’t.”
I may not have actually drawn every day, I may not have liked all of my drawings but all of these things I was able to take away from the experience just reminded me how fun art-making can be. It was a reminder that I can bring in my joy, peace, play and creativity into my life just by making some space, time, grabbing some materials and just making art!
While the art-making process uncovers information about our art-related abilities, it can also serve as a beautiful metaphor for so many things in our personal lives. This challenge ended up being more than just a drawing one, but a reflection on various aspects of life itself.
What challenge should we do next?
