I'm Doing A 365-day Sketchbook Challenge! - Heart and Bloom Illustration

I think we can all agree that these past months, and particularly weeks if you are living through this global pandemic in the U.S., have been full of uncertainty, fear, and a constant influx of bad news. Emotionally I feel drained, physically I feel vulnerable, but slowly I am starting to regain a sense of peace and balance while doing my part to stop the spread of COVID-19 by staying home and following the advice of the professionals.

I have had way too much time home and I will admit that week one of social distancing just meant stress eating and binge-watching tv shows. This week, however, I have felt more motivated to pick up a paintbrush and work through some of the creative blocks I have been feeling in my work and the direction of Heart and Bloom. A while back I was watching some old YouTube videos from Leigh Ellexson and she mentioned her year long sketchbook challenge and how it helped her gain more confidence in her art. I remember thinking “that’s great but I could never!” However, the thought came back to me this week as I have been trying to take this extra time to work more on my skills and projects I have been faltering with (*cough* etsy shop launch *cough*) Then suddenly I was convincing myself that I could in fact complete a year long sketchbook challenge although there is no proof that I have ever even completed a month long challenge before in my whole life.

So all that to say, I am trying something new and putting it out there that I will be doing a lot more sketchbook work and sharing it daily over on instagram. If you do not already, follow me @heartandbloom to see how this experiment evolves.

To start, here is day 1/365 of this challenge where I painted kolaches because I MISS THEM and also because I want to experiment with new ways of drawing one of my favorite subjects, food.