Morning Sketches—An Artist’s Survival Tool
At the end of July, 2020, I was let go from my job as a web developer. I spent many years in the web design and development field, all the while a nagging feeling tugging in the back of my mind and heart that I was in the wrong place. Right when the straw almost broke the camel’s back so to speak, fate would have it that I was freed from my position. It was frightening from a financial security perspective, but ultimately, a blessing. I decided to use this as my opportunity to shift gears and return to my artist roots, this time full-time.
I was burned out and tired. I spent the previous two years almost completely abandoning my art to raise my baby who I was blessed with in 2018. My son is beautiful and lovely, but young children take a lot of time and energy. The demands of a high-pressure job and a small child were making it difficult for me to pursue my creative dreams and it almost felt like that part of me was drowning. Add to it a global pandemic with my small child and two older children in school at home all the time, I was beginning to lose all hope. When I left my job, it felt almost like a veil was lifted and a light was starting to shine through the dark clouds. I was finally coming out of the dark. But, I needed some reviving. That’s when I turned to The Artist’s Way.
The Artist’s Way is a book and 12-week program to help blocked creative people find their way back to their art, designed and written by Julia Cameron. I first did The Artist’s Way back in 2010 when I was laid off from another job. My friend and fellow artist, Christopher (of ArtMuffin) introduced me to it the year before. I took the free time I had as an opportunity to try it out. The revival was refreshing, but more than 10 years later, I felt like I needed resuscitating again. One of the key components to The Artist’s Way is the “morning pages”. Each morning, first thing when you wake up, before doing anything else, you write three pages of stream-of-consciousness journaling. It doesn’t matter what you write—just write. It’s a great way to get your brain working and thinking. Some interesting things can come out of the morning pages. New ideas, insights, and revelations sometimes trickle out between the stream of brain junk.
I completed my 12 weeks of The Artist’s Way morning pages, activities, and artist’s dates (where you take yourself on a date by yourself every week). But, I felt I should continue the morning pages as part of my continued course toward a creative career. Since the beginning of August, I have nearly filled up three journals and gone through numerous pens. I just ordered myself a lovely handmade refillable pen so I can lower my impact of pen trash and support a fellow artist as I continue my journaling journey.
A few months into morning pages, I realized I needed another component to help me as a visual artist. I needed to be drawing something for myself every day. But, I needed a schedule to make this work. So, I added “morning sketches” to part of my routine. I wake up by 6am or earlier most mornings now. I start with morning pages and then continue on with morning sketches. The sketches can be anything. Sometimes I’m trying out a new tool, like the new Pentel brush pens my husband recently gave me for Christmas. Sometimes, I’m just drawing my hand or my dog curled up in bed because it’s a subject that’s there next to me. Other times, I may work on an idea that came to me while I was writing, or on a sketch toward one of my many projects. Either way, it gives me dedicated quiet time for me to just draw. And it is so important to me to do this now.
A morning sketchbook pencil drawing of a Bodhi Tree, or Sacred Fig Tree. 
A morning pencil sketch of a young girl playing with a ball. 
A morning sketchbook brush pen drawing of my dog, Daisy. 
A morning sketch of leaves using my new Pentel brush pen. 
A morning sketchbook drawing of a tired mother in pen. 
A colorful morning sketch of a tree, mountains, and a sunrise.
If you’re a creative person feeling blocked or lost, consider making yourself a routine and time just for you and your artist self. If you’re a visual artist, you can make time for morning sketches like I have. If you’re a musician, you could make time to play music, without expectations or a plan—just play. If you’re a writer, spend time doing morning pages, and then perhaps move on to some other composition just for fun. Do what feels right for your own creative self. Morning pages and morning sketches have helped me immensely. So many creative people discount the time they need for themselves, but it is in-fact, a crucial part of the creative process. This hour of time for writing and drawing has been vital to my revival as an artist—and I suspect will continue to be important to my creative process in many ways. Perhaps it could be for you, too.
To buy your own copy of The Artist’s Way, ask at your local book shop, or order online and help support local book shops on Bookshop.org.