Sunday, December 5, 2010

8 hours a week

I heard the other day, not sure where, that an art teacher required his students to draw for 8 hours a week,  just like language students have to log that kind of time studying verb tenses, which reminds me of something I should be doing, and literature students have to log that kind of time reading the required books, along side their own.

I have been debating committing myself to something like this, and waffle about not having time.....the eternal excuse.  I don't know if I could realistically swing 8 hours a week.  I am married, have kids, work and have already promised to myself to blog every day, do a canvas a day, study Spanish and Catalan and (when my butt feels better) run.  Wonder if I can magically produce another chunk in the day without knowing where it is from.

Hmmmmm.

20 min a day I could find for sure, every one can find 20 min a day.  An hour is a touch more intimidating, though....if I make it really convenient and have sketch books with me everywhere and I am dedicated, maybe I could pull it off.

Nomad, the other day, when I talked to her about this, suggested rolls of paper, that would hide previous work, I like the idea, especially if you draw a little invitational line to yourself onto the next part of the scroll, so the work would, over time, come to resemble an ever passing stream.

A great idea.  Not too portable.  I am also thinking that I would take some of the eternal mountains of scrap paper, punch holes in the corners, and stick 'encuadernadors' those little brass bend-over thingies in them to make my own fast and dirty sketch books.  I could make some half size ones as well that would fit better in a pocket.  

Might make it do-able, for instance I spent an hour and 15 min on the bus today going in and out of BCN, that could have been more profitably used in drawing, no?

I could also shake it up and sometimes do extended work, others continuous line, others 4 five-minute works, others 20 one-minute drawings.  

Keep it from getting dull.....

I gave it a go today, see how it lasts.

Cheaper than university!

Cheers, 

O

4 comments:

Trish said...

Those are some great ideas. Maybe if you start with 20 minutes and then add a minute or two every day -or even every week- you could work your way up to an hour without noticing it.

I like the carrying-around-a-homemade-notebook idea. I keep thinking I should do that with lined paper for writing.

Mother Theresa said...

Tricky thing to find an extra hour a day...but maybe with a portable sketchbook...hope you figure out a way to make it work.

Helen said...

It is all in finding what is possible. It took Brian years to find out how to fit composition around work, but once he had it, he got really creative and made it work for him. Go for it.

Moleskine make some lovely little pocket notebooks (expensive though)

oreneta said...

Trish, yeah, and some days I'd simply be able to tag on extra time cause I was lucky too....

Mother T, pulled it off today, we'll see how this goes.

Helen, He found the time to great effect, worth the effort indeed. I love moleskins...I have had a number and get the annual agenda every year, but if I'm going for 8 hours a week (or less) I need something a wee bit bulkier, the moleskins fit in the pocket so well, don't they.