Morning Pages Sept 30-October 1

Again, I did my morning pages but didn’t post them over the last couple of days. I frustrate myself. This little Morning Practice is really a digital journal project, as much about getting myself to quickly journal and upload the image of what I create each “morning” as it is to get into habit of drawing in the mornings—my most creative time.

But oh well. Here I am. Drawing, but not always in the mornings. Posting when I can. We have spent the last couple of days in Boothbay Harbor at a nice little place on the water. Clearly we have arrived late in the season. Mostly just a few retirees passing through. Staff getting ready to leave and many places around the area have signs posted: “Closed for the Season.” “See you in May 2026.”

Most not closed yet though. It’s quiet and quite lovely everywhere you look. Maine is so full of forest and waterways and here on the coast, batteries of harbors, inlets and points and islands just on the horizon. Kind of wish we could take a boat out on the water, but the tourist boats are closed and I would have to kayak alone. I could…but no. It’s cold and getting colder.

Anyway, I’m managing to draw a little as we travel and that is good. Good practice to get outside and draw. I need it! And I had fun. The blue fish is a little bit of collage (chopsticks packet). I’d like to get in more collage going forward.

The Pemaquid Lighthouse is out of proportion because I made an error at the top with the number of rings needed. When I allowed myself to solve the problem by letting go of realism I felt much better.

Morning Pages Sept. 26-29

We left for Maine on Friday, and while I didn’t post on these days as you can see below I did do my Morning pages, sometimes in the afternoons. This is a 4 day quick recap.

Who knows what time it was when I filled in this grid. Airplane time feels out of time. But it felt good to make it. I want to play with making more little images like these. The more I make the more ideas that come for new images and approaches. Ideally, maybe I can pull some of the fun ones for other projects.

A note on the making: lots of self judgement as I drew and made choices—especially with the rabbit and the cat. i can see now that I can accept the rabbit - he’s kind of cute and he IS what came from my hand. The cat is still an “eh”—but now, afterwards, that’s ok too. It wasn’t so ok while making.

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday walking the city, covering almost 14 miles, so I only had time for some quick in the moment sketching, which was good practice. And as for my self judgement, I have to remind myself that these were minutes-long sketches directly with ink pen. No erasing or embellishing. Sunday’s two sketches of lighthouse and a street are actually quite nice, I think.

This morning I drew a collage of images from photos. I was really taken by the wharf and its building and boats as well as this moment where all the seagulls are perched along the length-wise peak of the building. If I have time soon, I’d like to make a full picture of it. But for now, just a quick nod. I also drew the circular bricks laid out in the middle of a brick lined street. Just a quick capture. Downtown Portland has a lot of brick buildings and uneven brick sidewalks and streets. Sometimes like this one, they used granite, I think. Very difficult to walk on. But picturesque!

We move on today from Portland to Boothbay Harbor.

Morning Page, 9/24

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

So today I looked back to Monday’s Morning Page and I was taken again with how much I love it. The shapes, the black and white contrast, the grid even—it just really makes me happy. And I wondered if I would like this set of shapes as much as a representational picture—a botanical arrangement. So that’s what a made today and here’s a side by side comparison:

Monday’s Morning Page

Today’s Morning PagE

I ask myself if I like one over the other. Non-objective or Representational art, which do I prefer? And still I don’t know. Can I allow myself both? Maybe. But I do wish I understood WHY I respond to purely abstract work and why I respond to representational. What about either image speaks to me, or for me? I can’t say. They just both make my heart sing a little.

I am definitely drawn to black and white—and yet, again, I don’t want to limit all my artwork to just black and white. I love color! So what gives? I’m thinking that maybe it’s the high contrast that makes me happy rather than the actual colors (black and white). I think I see more experimentation in my future.

(Speaking of color, this week I tried giving some header space to these morning pages for color studies—but I don’t really like them after all so that’s going to go away.)

On a personal note, next week I’ll be out of town (Maine) and I’ve decided to try to keep my Morning Practice going, but I’ll have less time for detail on these morning pages. Also, I’m sticking with this sketchbook. I considered the blank 8X10” sketchbook I have in waiting, but there’s enough space (30 sides) in this one and it’s a better travel size. Tomorrow is the day before we leave and there will be a lot to get done so it will be a good day to start working faster.