Mundanities

Recently I've begun following the blog and podcast of Michael Nobbs, a British or Welsh artist who lives in Wales. It's called "Sustainably Creative" and it's about how to do art when you have very limited time, energy, or availability. Michael has an autoimmune disorder which severely limits his energy and ability to do daily tasks, let alone art. So he has put together a strategy for working around those limits. He does a daily podcast (voice blog) which is about five minutes long, and longer podcasts and videos occasionally. He also has blog posts, strategy "courses" you can take, and booklets of his art, too. In my case it's not sickness (not yet, that is…) it's the time and energy my day job takes away. One of his strategies is something I already do: draw something every day, no matter how small or ordinary or mundane. I do this and call it the DotD or "Drawing of the Day." I don't do one every day but most days. The one above was drawn at the Honda center where they were replacing a plastic panel on my car. The tires in the rack had an appealing pattern. 

And this one is a "still life" on the hairdresser's shelf which I drew as I was getting my hair done. You can see the tube spray can of hair spray as well as the tall jar full of disinfectant in which they keep combs and picks. And there's a cup of tea. Michael Nobbs, true to his Britishness, is always mentioning and drinking tea. I think that's a good idea, too, just a little pick-me-up to drink in a civilized way. "Sustainably Creative" is refreshingly far away from so many teeth-gritting, muscular, high pressure, rock-climbing "personal development" sites which expect you to be a superhero. I'd rather sketch and drink tea.