Your Drawing Book

The world around us is filled to overflowing with interesting looking people and places; you don’t need to be an artist to try drawing them. You don’t even need to be good at sketching to enjoy trying. A few simple lines, even if they are more like doodles or cartoons, will help you notice and remember the interesting things around you. 


By keeping a small book with blank pages in your bag or back pocket at all times, plus a pencil, pen or biro, you have everything you need to add adventure to your life. Every time the bus is late, or the waiting room is full, or you have 10 spare minutes, get your book out and draw something in it. Keep your book private – you don’t have to show it to anyone, ever, if you don’t want to.

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There are so many ways that you can enjoy drawing and sketching. We are constantly bombarded with things flooding our senses that we are rarely able to notice them, let alone stop and look at them. It’s quite frightening to realise how little attention we pay to anything. Our busy left-brained lives dismiss anything that isn’t strictly necessary or relevant to what we need to know or where we want to go. If you notice the light hitting your coffee cup in an unusual way, draw it! Usually, we see a cup, and that’s it. Cup. Drink the coffee and go. 
Your right brain would love to notice the colour reflecting up from the table, the sunlight hitting it at an angle, making blue-toned shadows. The shining spoon making spirals in the hot liquid...... This doesn’t take any more time, but cultivating and encouraging our visual senses makes life so much richer and endlessly fascinating. 

You may or may not become an ‘Artist’ (whatever that is) but the ability to tap into and express your natural creative resources is hugely beneficial. Meditation has been scientifically proven to enhance our lives on many levels. Drawing and sketching is a quick and simple way to access a similar state of mind; a deeper sense of being alive and connected to the world. It helps you to engage with the precious passing moments of life. It freezes Time and keeps your memories safe until you need them again. It’s surprising how many things you will remember when you look back at your drawings, whether or not they are any ‘good’, and by studying things around you, your drawing will become more realistic as your skills improve.

You don’t even need to draw ‘properly’ to enjoy using your book. Draw things you remember happening during the day. Did you have a fight with your boss, or your partner?  Sketch them in a cartoon! Draw them ‘hopping mad’ ‘seeing red’, or yourself ‘under a cloud’ ‘dragging your feet’ ’feeling blue’  Draw your frustrations and worries as well as your triumphs and joys – draw ‘stars in your eyes’ ‘skipping with glee’ ‘over the moon’. By doodling cartoons and making marks to express how you are feeling, you will become more self aware, which can help you in all kinds of ways. 

Add words if you like; things that cross your mind, overheard conversations, draw instead of write your shopping list! Stick in tickets and receipts, odd scraps, photos and inspiring quotes. This is more in the region of journalling, or posh scrapbooking, which is very popular in America now. See Google or Pinterest for ideas. The point is to relax and enjoy yourself, and to have fun with a free way of adding sparkle to your life.

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