I'm ever inspired by Austin Kleon and look forward to his weekly newsletter, a list of ten things that piqued his interest during the week and that he thought worth sharing.
Here's my own list of five from this past week, starting with Austin himself.
1. I'm challenging myself to blog every day and to sketch every day. For a year. Which may be a chunk of time too large to wrap my brain around.
A month feels like a more manageable chunk, so I downloaded Austin Kleon's printable 30-Day Challenge PDF. It's just a calendar on which you get to make a giant Sharpie X each day you complete the thing you want to do. Watching the X's accumulate is almost as orgasmic as watching the actual work accumulate.
Almost. Get your downloadable calendar here, and don't forget to give yourself a pony when it's filled.
2. As I close in on filling my first sketchbook (Woo Hoo!), I realized I'd need a way to organize the collection. That's when this post from Liz Steel dropped into my world. Serendipity! And a good way to get your own journal collection organized.
It works for word journals, art journals, sketch journals, trail logs, notebook collections of all duties.
3. Since I've challenged myself to sketch every day, I've also committed to learning what I can about mastering the media--pen, ink, watercolor, grisaille, design. Here's a list of Craftsy classes that have helped me improve my drawing by giving me techniques to work on. (Because the only way to really improve is to do the work, which comes up in the post.)
Also, go there to see some bad art. My bad art. I'm not so proud of the sketches. But I am proud of the attempt.
4. A case for Hiking More and Driving Less. There are so many good reasons to get up and walk, day after day. Perhaps this could be a monthly challenge? To hike every day.
5. I'm turning into an Instagram snob. I mostly don't want to see pictures of cats, cheeseburgers or endless selfies. Unless there's a really good reason. Like, you're Jamie Oliver or the Humane Society.
There's an art to curating a compelling Instagram feed and it starts not with what you want to show, but with what your audience wants to see.
A friend shared her feed with me this week from life on the road in their motor home, @yukonandbean. I think they're worth following because they're doing the work of tailoring their feed to an audience that's interested in life on the road.
I put up with the cat pictures because it's a cat on the road in an RV. It's part of the experience.
A few other instagrammers I love:
@drawntohighplaces and @lefoxstudio: two artists who hike and climb and carry their art supplies with them.
@goodmorningcactus: OMG, she makes art with cacti!
@wildsoullife: gorgeous photos from around the world. Her home page is just luminous and her comments are channeled from the Divine.
And as long as you're over there tooling around Instagram, follow my own hiking adventures @rubythroatwhiteblaze.
What did you find worth sharing this week? Leave a comment and turn us on to something juicy!