I've Been Drawing Patterns 20 min a Day for a Year

2020 was a year of reflection for many of us. For me, it was also a year when I became a gallery artist. Being constantly in contact with other members of the gallery, I started to really think of my art from a different perspective.

I felt somehow that I am lacking artistic skills. Not only compared to painters and digital artists but even some of the photographers who would use images only to construct more complex visuals.

As a self-taught artist, I always took a task-based approach to learning, my practice was very practical, so to say, at least as far as post-production goes. So, after being in the gallery for a while, I started to think if I could change my ways a bit, perhaps enhance some of my images with ink or paint after the standard post-prod process.

I remembered about a technique I used to practice when I was a teenager - very simple ink patterning - and I become curious if I can develop it further. I saw works of great masterity using the technique in Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne so I had a good inspiration too.

Of course my photographic practice, being also my profession, didn't allow me to just loose my camera and draw in ink day and night. So I was curious how far can I go if I just draw during little breaks - 20 min a day. I also drew in airplanes and while staffing at the gallery - that could be 1 or 2 hours at a time.

Below are some of my work (some with dates) - sorry for the bad scan - paper became really crooked after unfortunate accident.

What do I think of the result? It was going really better for the first few months, but then I started to experiment with shading and pattern and composition, and the quality remained about the same. Some of the drawings (not included) felt like a step back even - when I wanted to achieve an effect and failed because I was trying to invent my own technique.

So I would say, take it with a grain of salt - all the "habit builders" and productivity guru on YouTube will tell you that you can learn Chineese, train for moon landing and make millions with just 20 min a day - every day, but in fact you will merely become mid-level hobbyist this way - or at maybe it's just me :)

Did you ever attempt something like that?