10.67 metres around the world

Your drawings this week have helped push us into double figures! We now have 10.67 metres of wonderful drawings, inching out, little by little on their journey around the world. Thank you so much for taking the time to create your mindful drawings and to send them in. I love every drawing that arrived in my inbox, they are each life affirming; good reminders of what we love. I hope you enjoyed the listening practice, I know I did - it’s amazing the amount of sounds that drawing materials can make.

This week when you make your drawing, pay attention to the light and shadows of your subject matter. Here are some questions for you to consider: what is the strength of the light? Does the light have a colour, or a hint of a colour? Does it have a shape, or a pattern? Is it a warm light or a neutral or cool light? Is it natural light or artificial light - does it come from the sun, the moon, a candle, a lightbulb, or from something else? From which direction is the light coming from? Does it change the colour of your subject matter when the light is on it?

‘The light in winter is most varied; there are days when it's clear and bright, carving the earth into light and shadow like a razor. Yet, at times, the light can be soft and quiet as a whisper, with color of the most intense chromatic variations anyone could ever need.’ - Peter Fiore

Have fun and happy drawing!

(quote from http://www.art-quotes.com)

9.56 metres around the world

We have some marvellous pictures again this week, thank you everyone. Together the artworks measure 91cm laid side by side, and when added to our gallery around the world, makes a total of 9.56 metres - we are doing well.

I hope you enjoyed last week’s activity of paying attention to your art materials. This week, pay attention to the sounds of your art materials as you draw. What sounds does your drawing implement make? How about your drawing surface? And the sound of your hand and arm moving across the surface? What about the sound of your breathing? What other sounds are you aware of as you draw?

No matter what you do, you're always hearing something - George Brecht

8.68 metres around the world

Some more wonderful drawings this week, full of creative energy. I’m sure we have contributed good energy to the world in making these drawings (and inched a bit further along our journey). Thank you for taking the time to do them and send them in.

“No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” – Alfred North Whitehead

Maybe ‘others’ can also mean objects and we can be grateful for those objects that help us in our daily lives (I personally have many ‘objects’ in my life that I love very much. They have spirit and character about them and I’m quite sure are alive in their own way).

This week when doing your mindful drawings, pay attention to your materials, to your drawing surface and to your drawing implement. What do you notice about them? How do they feel? How were they made? Who made them? Give thanks to these objects that enable you to draw, and to the materials and people that made them.

7.6 metres around the world

Thank you for taking the time out to make fantastic, mindful drawings this week. They are all wonderful subject matter, very worthy of our attention. Where would we be without our glasses, without our bread, without our socks? We’d be cold, hungry and fumbling around in a blur unable to see the beautiful trees, birds and hares.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” —Maya Angelou

I have noticed that sometimes when it comes to the time I have set aside to do my mindful drawing, that I suddenly feel ‘too tired to do it’. This week, join me in testing out this quote from Maya Angelou. Do your mindful drawing even if you ‘feel tired’ and notice what your creativity and energy levels feel like during and after the drawing.

6.6 metres around the world

I adore the drawings that have come though this week, they are such fun: mum’s house and range, a happy pile of birds, steaming mugs of tea, beloved ducks and joyful snowdrops. Thank you all again for taking the time to make a mindful drawing of what you love. Please hover over each drawing to see each write-up.

In case anyone missed it, here is a link to the latest news from the project which tells about how donations and funds raised are helping the children to go to school which is amazing considering when the project started they just had the aim of feeding 100 children - and now having enough funds to help them go to school is amazing: https://www.livingcompassion.org/africa/news

Is there anything in your life which is always there, and because of this, you don’t really see it anymore? I recently did a painting of my garden that included a tree at the back which belonged to our neighbours. I put the tree in my picture and during the process of painting it of course I looked at it really hard, taking in all its detail and also painting the many birds that visited it (it was a hawthorn and birds love it). Last week that tree was cut back and I can no longer see it. I’m really glad I paid it so much attention before it disappeared and I have learned to appreciate things while they are there and not take them for granted (hopefully it was just pruned back and it will begin to appear again in my view).

This week, pay attention to something you don’t notice anymore. Notice all its little details including the colours, shapes, sizes, textures, markings, light and shadows. Notice any smells, sounds and movement.

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way… As a man is, so he sees.” William Blake

4.2 metres around the world (421.5cm )

We have some more marvellous mindful drawings of things you love this week, thank you for sharing them once again. It is a pleasure to see the drawings as they come in, they are very inspiring.

When we pay close attention to our surroundings, we can sometimes notice wonderful things we didn’t notice before. Is there anything in your environment this week that you haven’t really noticed before, or paid much attention to? And when you really look, can you see how amazing it is?

‘Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive’ - Thich Nhat Hanh

2.8 metres around the world (280cm)

Who can believe we are at week three already?! I am so honoured to again receive your lovely Draw What You Love artwork from around the world! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Included in this week’s submissions are some continuous line drawings from last week’s mindfulness activity, and they look fantastic, full of life and spirit.

This week’s mindfulness practice is in honour of Thich Nhat Hanh who passed away this week.

"Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment” from his book, Being Peace.

Before you start your mindful drawing of what you love this week, take in a nice long deep breath filling up your whole body, staying with it all the way in, and all the way out. And then draw what you love!

189cm around the world

Welcome to week two, and another amazing week in the land of Draw What You Love. Absolutely amazing pictures, very inspiring. Thank you for sharing more of what you love, just what we all need to get us through January.

There are many ways to practice drawing mindfully. One way is to have a go at what is known as ‘continuous line drawing’ whilst looking only at the object you are drawing and not at the paper. 

To do this, first choose your subject matter. Then put your drawing implement on your paper and draw your subject matter without taking your pencil or pen off the paper and without looking at the paper. Look only at the object that you are drawing. Really enjoy looking at it. Don’t worry about what your drawing will look like. Really be there with what you are drawing. Try to imagine what it might feel like to be that object. Remember to breathe! You can do this for five or ten minutes, or for however long you like. You can set a timer. After you have finished you can look at your mindful drawing. You will see your drawing is full of life and you will have captured some of the essence of your subject matter. You can do another one, just for fun! There are some examples of continuous line drawings of birds from the first week. 

93cm around the world

Welcome to ‘Draw What You Love’, everybody, and what a fantastic start. We’ve had submissions from around the world already, from Chicago in the US, and from Birmingham, York and Holmfirth both here in the UK. Thank you for these fantastic, mindful drawings that you all took time out to do last week. I hope you enjoyed your time drawing! Did it help you to take time to slow down, to breathe and to observe something wonderful around you? One person reported it felt a bit like meditating. Someone else said they noticed thoughts telling them they couldn't draw, but they did it anyway! Well done! This project is about using drawing as a way to focus on what we love, on what is good in our lives. If you are viewing the images on a mobile phone, you may need to click the little white dot in the bottom right corner of each picture to view information about the artwork.