February 2026 Art Practice--and what happened in January

And here we are to the second month of the year already! As I explained at the beginning of last month and the new year, I’m beginning each month with art practice intentions which I commit to in a Cover spread in my sketchbook, which I’m sharing here on my website.

I’m using it to set and stay focused on my creative intentions all month and then to reflect on what happened. Hopefully I end each month with some learning and growth and lots of creativity.

So first, what happened in January?

Illustrated Journaling - Became Weeknotes

I worked hard to figure out the best way to approach illustrated journaling in January (which is, by the way, using pictures and words to journal and express something of what I experience, think and feel).

What I lacked was both a container and a process for this visual form of journaling, because up until now, the container has been any page in any sketchbook (little pieces of my life scattered across books and time) and the process has been non-existent. How to start? What to say? What not to say? Basically how to get it done—and then move on to other art I want to make. I just felt really frustrated NOT doing this kind of work more often than not.

I’m happy to report that I made great headway this month. I did quite a bit of illustrated journaling, though still in several sketchbooks and also on individual cards. But where I really excelled was in process. I finally figured out that I could mash a couple of ideas out there in the world into a practice of my own: Weeknotes and Homework for Life .

Basically what I’ve been doing that feels very sustainable is I wake up and create one bulleted entry each day in my Weeknotes page in Notion (on my ipad) about ONE thing that happened to me the day before. I use as few sentences as possible (one is best).

Then later when I have time, I’ve been playing with illustrating each entry each day very simply, which I think I’ve now figured out is the exact way to illustrate the journaling!

However, having used individual card sized papers I’m now grappling with how best to put them all together into a sketchbook. I think I need to ditch the cards and work on layout ideas direct in my sketchbook—so I’d say I’m not yet done creating the container —but I AM doing the work and I believe I’ll have the whole project nailed down this next month.

Abstract and Geometric Shapes Project Started by not Finished

I created three sets of shape experiments in January for this project—all of which I like very much. But I still don’t know WHY I love shape images or what to do with them exactly.

Inner Magic Art Club a Little Stalled

I am sad to say that I did not attend either zoom session this month. Setting aside that two hours just didn’t work—and I didn’t go back and create with the recording either. Also, I admit that I have a really hard time opening up to strangers and I when I did participate the month before, I didn’t talk. Hmmm.

Daily Drawing - Mostly Not as a Practice

The intention was to sit down and draw something as a project for the month—but the reality was that I drew a lot of illustrated journaling instead. AND I ended up creating a nine panel comic—not an intention for the month, but grew out of illustrated journaling. That took a lot of drawing (and many other stages of work to get from idea to final)—and time. I think I pretty much did draw every day in January!

All in all, January was a good creative month. I made some big headway on nailing down a sustainable process for illustrated journaling which I will now call my Weeknotes—as well as created a good amount of entries, and I created a nine-panel comic, and I explored shapes…

February Art Practice Intentions

This month I’ll only focus on three things: Weeknotes, and then two other things which I explain below.

Weeknotes

I intend to keep up with my daily Weeknotes in Notion accompanied by a daily simple drawing of that entry. I am going to try to add one entry a day into my sketchbook instead of on a card, and copy the sentences as well. I’ll first try a unplanned composition where I’ll add one then add another the next day without lines or space allocations—see how a page develops organically. I will also try designing layout first and adding daily entries into allocated space.

Because I do have a process developed now, this should not take much time each day in my sketchbook, leaving plenty of time to focus on other art making. Which will be…

Anything Goes

This offering came up last minute for the month of February and I knew I had to do it: “A Mixed Media Adventure” with Carla Sonheim and Kara Kramer. I know and love both artists and I’m looking forward to a month of prompts and ideas for creating wildly and loosely—one of my main challenges. Perfectionism bends me to its will too often! So I’m really going to take up the challenge of lots of messy creating. This does mean, sadly, that I will have to suspend the Inner Magic Art Club. Boo. But given that I didn’t participate in January, it’s for the best.

A Project

Finally, I’m leaving room for ONE project. I haven’t decided what I will make this month. Last month I created a nine panel comic. I may do something with those shapes…I may find a good ideas to develop for the County Fair this year. We’ll see!

Okay - there you have it. February is now here. It will be interesting to see what I make of it.

You Can't Find It!

A nine panel comic

I finally made a finished comic. I love comic art, but I have found that it is much more difficult that it looks to actually make one. What I’ve learned about making comics, both from this and other attempts, is that it is true what seasoned comic artists say: the biggest challenge is to just accept the drawing that comes out of your hand.

And as this comic reveals, self judgement is a big challenge for me—as I think it is for many creative people. It’s not just facing down a blank page for me, but when I create ANYTHING, that judging voice itself never stops questioning and criticizing.

It’s taken years to keep on going anyway.

As for process, wow, creating a finished comic takes many steps. First, write the script. Edit it. Thumbnail it. Edit the script more. Tape off the grid, pencil it in, ink over the pencil add color (a whole choosing process in its own right), and then add the words. More judgement about my handwriting. Do it anyway.

As often happens with finished work, I’m more pleased than I expected while making it. All through the process the Judge told me it was terrible. Maybe not perfect, but it isn’t terrible.

Not only that, but when I finished this comic I suddenly had more ideas for other art than I could do.

Imagine that.

Aghast and Distraught!!!

Two spreads in my Sketchbook - I needed to express how I’m feeling about the current paramilitary occupation of our cities by ICE, agents of our own government! I remind myself that this is how MOST Americans are feeling right now. I didn’t mention the word “ICE” because I couldn’t bear to have that word live on in my Sketchbook.

The worse it gets the more resolved I am to lean into helping. I spoke during public comment at the Marin County Board of Supervisors Meeting this week to demand they out the SCAAP Program on their agenda and vote to withdraw from it, which is a federal reimbursement grant for incarcerated immigrant “criminals” - and most likely hands over these people to ICE. I’m donating. I have protested. But I need to do more.

How did I make these pages? I taped the words on the page, then scribbled furiously with colored pencils (many; cathartic), removed the tape and added black ink.