Celebrating our sketches – February 2019

Moment Sketchers, thank you for being part of our second sketching challenge of 2019 — and for helping there be so much to celebrate about this weekend.

I’ve been going back and forth with myself all day about two different themes I could focus on in this opening note, when it suddenly occurred to me: Why choose? Why not write about them both?

So let’s do it!

First things first, I want to celebrate a number of people who stepped out of their creative comfort zones during this challenge. Colleen in Australia shared that she tried out watercolors for the first time this weekend, bringing a lovely sketch of a summer peach to life with color. On the other side of the world, Katherine in England tried out painting on wood, capturing wintry English hills with gouache, watercolors, and colored pencils:

I especially love how Katherine wrote about the experience of stretching herself creatively:

“I was so excited to try this but absolutely terrified when I was faced with my view and the blank white board to paint.

This was a day when I totally went with my creativity…”

Excited yet terrified — is there a more perfect mix of emotions to describe stepping out of our creative comfort zones? I couldn’t be prouder that our community is such a safe and encouraging space for people to share their first endeavors at something new.

And now, for the second theme that’s been on my mind today: There were a few instances during this challenge where a pair of sketches created by different artists (who in some cases, were from very different parts of the world) almost seemed to be echoing each other or carrying out a conversation together, whether in subject or style.

Sometimes, this echo seemed to happen unintentionally — such as these lovely succulent sketches captured by Yamuna in Germany and Brenda in Canada:

At other times, it was very much intentional. After Sarah in Canada shared a sketch of her mother’s old sewing machine that she was given over 20 years ago, Smita in India was inspired to sketch one of her mother’s old knitting needles, which her mom also gave her years earlier:

As fun as this conversation-in-sketches was to watch unfold, I was even more moved by the words Smita shared with her sketch:

“Moment Sketchers provides a platform for people like me all over the world to connect in such meaningful ways. It’s not just art, but a special bond we share — a sense of interconnectedness that draws us together. When I look at the random pieces from all over the world, it makes me feel I belong. The small things that hold our attention and make us smile and feel loved.”

I don’t think better words exist to open this challenge review with, so this feels like a fitting place to end. Thank you all for helping to make our challenges more than just about sketching. For me, each and every challenge is not only a celebration of art, but of art’s ability to bring us all a little bit closer together — no matter where in the world we call home.

Given that February is still very much in the heart of winter for the Northern Hemisphere — and especially given the Polar Vortex that’s been casting its frigid spell across the U.S. recently — I fully expected this month’s sketching challenge to be another memorable celebration of wintry magic…and your sketches did not in any way disappoint.

From Judy and Joanne’s snow-capped mountainscapes in the Yukon and Utah to Cara’s winter wonderland near Lake Tahoe, it was so fun to see how you all captured something as seemingly monochromatic as snow in so many different colors and tones:

At the same time, a rather unexpected motif also emerged — that of beautifully colored botanical sketches. Joan joined us this month from the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island, NY. Kerry in Australia sketched her gorgeous new bromeliad plant. And Marji captured an iconic bird-of-paradise flower on her recent trip to Brazil.

Much of our community may still be in the heart of winter, but as your sketches attest, there’s still more than enough color to be found and celebrated in the world.

To view the rest of the images from our February 2019 sketching challenge, all you need to do is visit this link to see the entire gallery — and even if you don’t have an Instagram account, you can still view it in your browser.

Moment Sketchers, thank you all for helping our monthly challenges celebrate both creativity and connection…see you in March!