Like I said before I started this 30 days of drawing 30 cats thing, some cats I draw I won't like. I do not like Cat 4 from Day 4. The problem is that I thought too much when I drew him. I thought, I should draw one standing up like a person. 
He just isn't good at all. My creative process works better if I just let my hands do the thinking and the drawing:

I like the cat from Day 5 though. I sketched him quick. These have been sketched and in my regular daily journal (reason for the lines). Quick sketches are more my style:

So, I've not been the best at creating this summer. If you read my last post I mentioned this. But I'm going to change this -- I am going to start today. 

What am I going to do?

I am going to give myself a 30 day challenge, and I will post each of my drawings from these 30 days even if (and they will be) very bad. I don't care. 

I probably won't post one a day even though that sounds like the best plan. I will post them in bunches most likely because of where my life is right now.

My next 30 days are set to be crazy. In this time we need to sell our 38 acre place; move; get our two youngest enrolled and attending a new school; get our two oldest off to separate colleges; pack and unpack an entire household (including 4 1/2 horses, three cats and a dog); and somehow get caught up on all the bills including tuition for three college students (my husband is attending college online while he works full-time and his a full-time dad and husband and basic hero). It is daunting but God has called us to this move and He will work out the details.

Okay, so what is my challenge?

Simple...I am going to sketch a cat every day. I am going to start at a different place on the cat too. I have found when I draw a cat I usually draw the ears first then the head and then body. Things change if you start somewhere else. I have noticed that when Quentin Blake draws people he starts with the feet -- he goes toes to top. I often go from top to toes. And I may use my non-dominant hand some weeks. We shall see. 

What about you? Maybe give yourself a 30 day challenge and see what you come up with . 

I know better. I really do. If you look back at the posts on this site you'll see the evidence to this. 

I haven't been drawing or painting much at all this summer. And this is the summer I desperately need to be doing creative stuff. It has been a real stressor -- what with us trying to find a new place to live, getting my two oldest ready to go to college in August; putting our place up for sale, trying to do ministry -- and there are so many unknowns and dealing with behavior issues (not in me usually). I've been massively stressed. 

That being said I doodled and then used my colored pencils today. One is of my son Hawk rolling on the ground. The other is of some unknown lady I named Eddie.

I haven't been drawing much except for morning doodles -- which usually is my coffee cup and whatever else happens to be on my table. 

Two days ago I broke my favorite coffee cup (and it was a copy of a different coffee cup I broke). Yesterday morning I realized how much my coffee tastes better when the cup fits in my hand the way I like it too.

Since the last time I've posted, I've been busy with kids this summer: a child graduated from high school, another came home from college for the summer; another has an ongoing infection I'm treating; we've officially told the world that we are moving  by the end of the summer to Dupree, South Dakota. My husband will be the full-time pastor at a church there (plus, have another job...the small churches in our great state often employ bi-vocational pastors). I've resigned from a small newspaper writing gig and I'm trying to keep my kitchen stocked with food while five of my kids are home for the summer. 

The drawing above is my 10 year old dog. His muzzle is white now. I don't like thinking he's passing middle age already. I don't know what I'm doing with my doodles, my drawings, my stuff as I call it. I am thinking about the best way to contribute to my world with art and writing and ministry (also thinking about what to offer on my other website). So, I'll keep thinking and studying and drawing and writing. 

And we'll see what happens in the the near future.

Have a lovely, lovely day!

I haven't been drawing too much lately but when I do it is usually in my journal with one of my fountain pens. I either use a disposable one or my white pilot fountain pen. The pilot one has a converter inside it. I can't do the pens that have to be dipped into ink. That takes practice that I don't want to spend time on. So, the ones I use work great for me. 

The following three quick sketches were done in the morning while I sat with Pete as he drank his hot chocolate coffee and I drank coffee. They aren't great but I enjoy drawing these kinds of things. The objects were in front of me on the table. Usually my table is a mess. Sometimes it is clean -- maybe twice a week.