Drawing inspiration: Draw Your Day by Samantha Dion Baker
Everyday, relatable things are what I enjoy capturing when drawing. There is something magical about capturing the mundane, the opposite of what you think of when you think of art.
Therefore, I was excited to read Samantha Dion Baker's Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal, which discusses the importance of developing a habit of documenting your day with drawings and words. The author highlighted the value of recording each day in this way as follows:
“For me, the daily drawing practice is a time to reflect and home in on particular moments - like enjoying a handful of almonds on a subway ride, or the look on my child’s face when he tried a new food. Time is so fleeting, and each day passes quickly. Often a week will pass, and I am left thinking, <<Wow, what even happened this week? What did I accomplish?>>But my sketch journal helps me keep a hold on where my time has gone; it keeps me off of my phone and computer; it reminds me to observe the world around me; and it enables me to look back on it all.”
Above all, I love the part where she says she does the drawings for her children:
“It’s always in the back of my mind that my journals will be passed on to my kids one day (and hopefully their kids will look at them as well). Because they are watching me through this journey, I create messages especially for them.”
Dion Baker describes her process, from pencil sketches to colored pages, and includes images of unfinished and finished work for comparison:
Her sketch journal pages are visually stunning when it comes to drawings, lettering, and composition:
As much as I love the idea of daily drawing, I must admit that I felt a bit intimidated by Dion Baker’s work. Those beautifully illustrated pages, as seen above, remind me of pages in perfectly executed bullet journals, something unattainable and something I will never be able to fully commit to. I'll keep drawing every day and adding little drawings to my journal entries, but they'll probably look more like Dion Barker’s pages drawn on busy days:
