The Benefits of Daily Practicing, Introduction:

Each year I set a goal to draw more, and each year I get better and better at meeting this goal. Part of this goal is to spend at least fifteen minutes, six days a week, in free drawing. I also take my sketch book almost everywhere I go. I tend to fill one page in my sketch book in these 15 minutes. During this time, I practice drawing things I feel I need to improve, like spend 15 minutes drawing hands or whatever, doodling, playing with ideas that have been dancing around my head, or draw whatever comes to mind. The sketches above were drawn while I was waiting to board an airplane. To date, I have found the following benefits. 

• Helps you discover your personal style

• Improves drawing ability

• Increases creativity

• Improves quality of jobs or assignments I have taken on

• Generates ideas for personal projects

• Increases enjoyment of drawing and life

• Decreases stress

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the benefits to daily practice in any creative career. I am sure there are more. If you have any, send them my way. I would love to get other’s thoughts on this subject.

I will spend more time in future weeks going over each of these benefits in more detail.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Barclay-Studio. I hope your holiday's are filled with peace and joy!

One Small Exciting Step!

I made my first online sale! Traveling, print 1 of 25 has now been shipped off to a new home. One leg of my table is starting to strengthen.

It was exhilarating to log into my site and see that someone had purchased a print. I navigated the shipping process and sent it off. Having just opened the store a week ago and having a purchase that quickly was a wonderful event.

It helped to have the print on display at the Quimby Gallery as part of the Northern Vermont Faculty Exhibit, Come Together. They wanted a print and went to my site to make the purchase. This emphasizes the need to have multiple legs to support the table as mentioned in my last post.

This first sale is small, but exciting. I know full well that the online store will take time to grow, but it is exciting nonetheless.

I will continue to add work to the site for sale. You can go to here to see more.

Setting up a Table

 

My online store is now open for business!

I created a business plan years ago when I was taking my illustration business class at the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School in the Illustration MFA program. In it, I focused only on getting into the children’s picture book market. Jim Carson (1952 - 2014), the instructor for the illustration business class, told me not to put all of my eggs into one basket.

A few years ago, I was watching an interview with an Illustrator and Animator, Jake Parker, on a show called The New Creatives. In it he explained that he sees his career and supporting himself like a table. “you put legs under the table to hold it up. The more legs you have under that table, the more stable it is, and if something is swept out from under it, you’ve got all these other legs holding it up.”

I learned this the hard way when over 19 years ago I was laid off from my graphic design job, found another job, and then was laid off again within two months. I realize I need more legs to support my table. I have been relying mostly on my teaching, but I know from past experience that things can change in an instant and that one support can be gone. 

As part of this journey, I am creating more legs to better support my table. The first leg is my teaching. The second is my efforts to get into the picture book market. The third leg is selling my work online. I am also in the process of developing more legs.

You can see what work is available to purchase at my website 

https://www.barclay-studio.com/online-store 

and find other places to buy my work at this subpage 

https://www.barclay-studio.com/other-places-to-buy-my-work

If you see something of mine that you want that I currently do not offer or want to commission me to do any work, let me know. 

I will also be updating the store regularly so visit often!