Why I Sketch: Amanda from Australia

At the start of this year, Moment Sketcher Amanda and I were exchanging emails, dreaming up new ideas for our community in 2019. At some point I confessed to her that while I know it’s helpful to talk about the “how-to” of sketching — i.e. things like the quality of different watercolor papers, drawing pens, etc. — what I’ve always been most passionate about is the why of sketching. 

When Amanda wrote back and told me she felt the same, that planted the seed of an idea: An interview series with different artists in our community, exploring why they sketch and what art brings to their lives. Naturally, it only felt right to begin by interviewing Amanda herself — but not just because she helped spark this idea. As our new community manager, Amanda has also been incredibly instrumental on an even larger scale in our tribe, helping foster the spirit of support and encouragement that is so essential to Moment Sketchers.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to share the first interview in our new “Why I Sketch” series with you today, featuring Amanda and many of her beautiful sketches from around the world:

What was your background with art in Australia?

As a kid, I always did like arts and crafts. I had all the usual things, like paint-by-numbers — things where you very much follow a pattern. You’re told where to paint stuff or how to do it. It was very prescriptive. I did a bit of cross-stitching, but once again, that’s drawing on your math brain. I took a mandatory art class at high school, because we had to — but then I was all math and science. One of my greatest loves is physics, which is at the other end of the spectrum.

As far as family goes, my mum and dad are very realistic and down-to-earth. We definitely didn’t visit art galleries. And even when I did coloring, I was always encouraged to make sure everything was colored the way it should be: The sky should be blue, the grass should be green, etc.

I did have my grandmother on my dad’s side — she was very talented art-wise. All our birthday cards would have little doodles and drawings added to them. Whatever she picked up, she would write with, and whichever hand she picked the pen up with. So there was an arts background, but once again, her main love was medicine and how the body works and that sort of thing.

There was also my grandfather, Pa, on my mum’s side. In his late 60s or 70s, he suddenly decided to take up woodcarving. He was a very good woodcarver. He was mainly a farmer or worked in rural jobs, so we always joked that he’d gone “artsy” later in life. I’m just sad that both of them had passed away before I’d even thought about art.

So when did you begin thinking about art?

I always think like with everything in life, there’s usually not one decision that makes anything happen — good or bad. I always think it’s a whole pile of little stones that pile up into a mountain, either a big pile of problems or good things.

I’ve always loved writing. Even as a kid, I enjoyed keeping journals and writing stories. I’ve always thought about writing kids’ books, but then I’ve thought, “Well, you’ve gotta be able to illustrate it,” and I can’t do that. That was one thing that used to go through my mind: It’s a shame I can’t draw, it’s a shame I can’t paint.

Another thing was we had a trip up to South Dakota. We went to the Buffalo Bill Center, which is a museum and there’s an art gallery as part of it. And all that Wild West art, with the bison and country scenes — which are quite different to Australian country scenes — that was one of the first times I went into an art museum and thought, “Wow, this is pretty cool.”

Around the same time, one of my friends was in America about two weeks after us. She went to Universal Studios’ Harry Potter World and bought me a little journal, which was blank. When she gave it to me, I thought:

“Ohh, it’s got blank pages. I shall learn something new in this. I shall learn art.”

That’s when I seriously started googling drawing for beginners and watercolors for beginners, and that was also just months before Moment Sketchers was started.

The other thing was, and I only thought of this one recently — although it’s probably as important, if not more important as all the others: My nephew, who is 14, he’s always been very much like me. He’s always been into dinosaurs and earthquakes and volcanoes — stuff that all boys love, associated with science.

Whereas my niece, Libby, who’s about 10 or 11, is very creative — which we love, of course. But I always felt like I didn’t have that bond with her like I did with Steve. And it coincided nicely that right as I started to get into sketching was about the same age that she was becoming a kid and she loves her arts and crafts. It’s been really nice bonding with Libby over art, and it sort of links my past and my future with my niece.

What was the first step you took in getting into art?

I started off by literally writing down things like pencil types — “9H is the hardest, 9B is the softest, 2B is the most common used for outlines and sketching.” I literally knew nothing. I did the same thing with paintbrushes.

So, what I’m most curious about is why do you sketch? What has kept you sketching these last two or three years?

Moment Sketchers, more than anything — it’s all very serendipitous how things happen in life. I think I might have kept sketching without it, but I wouldn’t guarantee it. It’s been the support from people like Angela and Francois, meeting Genevieve in Montreal, as well as ones closer to home like Colleen. It’s really kept me going.

With Moment Sketchers, it’s like, “Here’s my part of the world — what’s happening in your part of the world?”

I felt a lot of stress in the early days. Every Moment Sketchers challenge, I’d be like, “Oh my gosh, this is hopeless. I can’t share it.” But sometimes the ones that were the most hopeless in my opinion were the ones that other people actually liked the most.

It just gave me the confidence to have a go and try different things and put it out there — it doesn’t matter so much what other people think.

So you came from a place where you valued more pragmatic, math and science-related subjects, and now here you are three years later, with a very regular creative practice…How has your life changed the most through your artistic journey?

What has art brought to your life that wasn’t there before?

The friendships and support have been lovely. On a more individual basis, I now get that art and creativity are good for the soul. I think it does help you chill out a bit, it helps you stop and smell the roses, and look deeper at things.

Even when I first starting drawing, I remember driving out to Mum and Dad’s — it’s a proper road, but it goes through the bush. I remember thinking, “Ah, look at the shape of that tree, and the shape of that tree, and the shape of that tree,” which I never would have looked at before. It’s given me a better awareness of what’s around me.

Even if I see a place on TV that’s somewhere I’ve been or painted a picture of, or even someone else who’s put a photo up of somewhere I’ve been, and you go, “I’ve painted that — I remember that window.” I remember that tiny little detail, when probably in the past, I would have just gone, “Yeah, I’ve seen that.” Full stop — nothing more than that.

But now, thanks to sketching, I look a little more deeply at things.