This month was a month full of focus and painting for me. I somehow created 58 paintings - almost 2 per day, while still working a day job. I’ll share what I learned, my process, experiments, and results for this month of focused painting.

Nothing adds more contrast to your sketches than pen & ink.

But the problem is when you’re too afraid to try it because it’s permanent. And when you do try it, you’re so concerned with making mistakes that your linework turns out too stiff. There’s no life in your lines or your sketch.

We left early in the morning from Islamabad and started driving towards the north with Batakundi as the destination for the day - about 7-8 hours away. The sunrise was amazing on this day.

Something I've struggled with for so long is balancing all of the creative outlets I enjoy in my life.

If you're like me, I imagine you've tried a few different creative hobbies once or twice before. Things like drawing, painting, playing guitar or piano, doing puzzles, learning magic tricks, doing origami, photography, learning languages, graphic design - the list could go on and on.

Hey there, how's it going?
Finally a new year, so I wanted to catch up with you again.

I wanted to share with you a lesson I learned from last year - and also share a short list of some of the most valuable content I created last year.

What do you see when you look at a blank piece of paper? If you're anything like me, you see the most scary and intimidating, valuable canvas, which will easily be wasted as soon as I start to draw anything on it.

Do you feel like you’ve missed your chance to start drawing?

Maybe you feel that you should’ve started years ago and that if you did, you’d be great by now.

Maybe you think you’re too old or too far behind to start now.

One thing I’ve probably learned the most from painting from life, especially outdoors, is the importance of making decisions. When doing plein air painting or travel sketching on location, there’s no time to waste - especially in the morning or evening light.

When I was a kid, I loved to draw all the time. It was something I loved to do and I could sit down and do it for hours. But eventually, around the time when I was a teenager and in highschool, it didn’t feel quite the same to me anymore.

I have had many times where I become frustrated while creating art, whether it be a pen & ink drawing or a watercolor painting. I would guess around one-third or even more of my art is just garbage - or not quite the quality I was looking for. This is just how it is sometimes.

Even though I’ve been consistently creating art and following this passion for over 10 years now, I still have times where I struggle and run into problems.

The new year is usually a time where we all make resolutions, stick to them for about 3 days - maybe one week if you’re lucky, and then go back to our normal ways.

I. Be Firm About What You Want - This is something I've struggled with a bit throughout my life to be honest.

My journey for minimal travel sketching started in 2018 when I was planning a trip to Alaska.

This book reminded me to think more like an artist and to not be afraid of interpreting the subject more often, rather than copying only what I'm seeing.