One month of my daily drawing challenge

I'm a mom of two toddlers who has now been drawing or painting (almost) each day for a full month. Here's what I've learned and what I'm doing slightly differently going forward.

My Daily Art Habit

My goal has been do draw & paint every weekday, and allow weekend days "off." Weekends are when we do family outings together and go to church, so my routine is different. I wanted to leave some wiggle room in my goal of doing art every day so that this habit wouldn't become burdensome, and it has been nice to take the pressure off for a few days, then jump back in on Monday.

My drawing or painting time is usually during the day with my toddler! Sometimes she has a longer quiet time, or takes a very rare nap, ad I end up sitting down by myself. But usually, this is an activity we look forward to together. This usually means about a 30-minute window, beyond which I may be able to continue while she chooses a different activity, or my attention may be required elsewhere.

Structuring the day to make time for my hobby

A benefit of this goal, besides making the art itself, has been the way I've had to think about all my other daily tasks. It's hard to sit down and paint when there's wet laundry in the machine, I have no idea what we're having for dinner, we still aren't totally dressed for the day. I want to be able to just paint as soon as my 18-month old goes down for her nap, so that means I've had to be diligent in accomplishing all my other tasks outside of that time.

My two daughters and I also play outside every day, (again, with a few reasonable exceptions) which was a decision I set during our last long New Hampshire winter and has continued. Outside time is one big block of the day that has to fall outside of art/nap time. That leaves chores, errands, and cooking for the rest of the day — all things that I embrace as part of my work as a Mom and homemaker, but I don't want to completely dominate my time. By committing to activities that are both fun and valuable for us as a family, it's forced me to be much more mindful and efficient about getting the rest of my work done.

Problems & Solutions

As the weeks have gone by, I have had a few moments of dissatisfaction. Here are some of the ways I'm trying to pivot to improve.

Problem

I don't care for much of the art I'm making.

Solutions

• Re-do pieces that didn't come out good. Doing something the wrong way is valuable experience, so I can capitalize on that. I can learn from what went wrong yesterday and improve today.

• Simplify what I sit down to draw. I've attempted a few more landscapes and detailed scenes than I'm ready for, especially with a short widow of time. I end up rushing and not being pleased with the results. Instead, I'm going to choose single subjects to paint.

• Simplifying the subject will also encourage me to slow down.

• I don't want to have a screen out during art time, so I've only been using references in the house or outside. That has limited what I draw. I may begin to use more reference photos, and next time I'm at the library I'll scoop up a few books with good photos of animals, food, and plants to use!

Problem

It's taking several days to "finish" some of my pieces.

It can feel discouraging when multiple days pass without tangible results. It also makes the painting process itself feel disjointed. Because I only have so much time each day, I want get to some small finish line each time I sit down to make some art.

Solutions

• Start working from my own prompt list to minimize how much time I spend deciding what to paint.

• Again, I've made these prompts pretty simple. Single objects like apple, flower, alphabet.

• I'm not going to be doing any full scenes or backgrounds for now.

Problem

I bought the wrong paint!

Gouache paint is special because it has the fluidity of watercolor, plus the opaque quality of acrylic paint. After a small bit of research, I purchased the Caran d'Ache set of gouache pans. Unfortunately, these paints are not opaque at all, and to me, they feel exactly like painting with watercolor. I really wanted to be able to layer colors, and not being able to do that has been a bummer, and has inhibited my results somewhat.

Solutions

Being at the beginning of my resolution to make more art, and having just spent money on paint and sketchbooks, I decided to move forward with the Caran d'Ache set that I had. I reasoned that supplies are not a substitute for ability, and I would learn with any paint that I had. I also wanted to prove to myself that I could consistently paint for a long time, and not fizzle out in a week. So, I decided to wait until I filled a sketchbook, then buy a better set of gouache.

And that's exactly what I did; now that I have started my second sketchbook, I bought a small selection of Winsor & Newton designer gouache. I can't wait to try them out and see how the ability to layer color improves my art!

The future of my daily painting goal

This routine has gone well so far, and my daughters are getting more and more used to it too. I’ll continue on with these adjustments. I can already sense that I’m buildimg confidence, and look forward to seeing how my art is coming along in another month.