sketching - westward trail view

A few days ago, with the sun streaming down and the chaos of life swirling all around, a friend asked, "Do you want to go sketching?"

I was so grateful for the change of scenery, the warm sun on my back and a creative endeavor to clear my mind. When I found this drawing on my desk I remembered the moment and I realized how important it is to have creative outlets. If our lives are busy, we must schedule in time to let our creative spirits soar. We must choose creativity.

How will you stretch your creative muscles?

Sketching

Last week we took a trip to a local park. Knowing the sun would be shining my husband grabbed his camera. I like taking pictures, but on this day we were stepping away from screens and seeing as my phone is my main camera, I decided to embrace the challenge and view the park from another perspective: my sketch pad.

I took a drawing class in college and really enjoyed the challenge. We worked with a variety of mediums but my favorite tool for drawing is still a pencil, preferably one without an eraser. With a change in pressure or angle you can recreate a variety of textures and patterns. When you draw without an eraser, it forces you to work with what you have, to be intentional with each and every moment when lead meets paper. Each time my husband pulled out his camera, I pulled our my sketch pad and documented something in my view: the foliage, wildlife, people passing by.

This is my sketch of what I now know as "horsetail," yet will fondly remember as "chevron-asparagus plant."