These are questions I asked myself in the final weeks of 2025 when I was thinking about this idea. I decided to commit to this drawing challenge to see if I could personally demonstrate the reasons why drawing every day for 365 days is an awesome idea.

1. Discipline
   Doing anything with consistent discipline is a massively powerful feeling. I knew I wanted to make space for my art every day. I also knew it was easy to bump it down the list past work, parenting, cooking, and keeping the house at a socially acceptable level of cleanliness. Committing to a drawing every day means drawing regardless of whether I have energy or inspiration.

2. Connection
Kirsten Ferguson’s celebrating women campaign showed what a powerful tool social media can be for positive connection. Kirsten “ended up celebrating 757 women from 37 countries and inadvertently created a movement of women around the world celebrating and supporting one another.”
I wanted a way to connect on social media, and I felt fake trying to make jazzy posts about how great I am.  Kirsten Ferguson’s example inspired me to use social media and my art as a way to make connections. As I grow more confident, I would love to weave more portraits into my drawings and shine a light on the people around me. Publicly posting my drawings also creates a strong sense of accountability. I have told everyone I am going to do this!

3. Self-Education
I enjoy living regionally and my responsibilities and commitments here make it difficult to pursue a more specialized professional arts education at the moment. And yet I desperately want to hone my skill to the point where I am able to create the pictures I want. I see constant practice as a step towards building skill.

4. Inspiration
David Hockney, Zoe Young, Donald James Waters– so many artists whose work I admire profess to have “always drawn” and seem to produce these fluid realistic natural drawings. I want to make pictures like them, but I have never “just drawn” I have always felt I am crap at it. I just paint. I feel like drawing is the piece of the puzzle I am missing to make my paintings terrific.

5. Portraiture
I really really want to draw people from life, but I am scared. I will do a lot to wiggle out of actually putting in the effort to get the hang of it. I find it quite confronting and a bit too intimate to sit right in front of someone and stare intently at all the parts of them. Declaring my interest in portraiture and needing subjects for 365 drawings will surely help move me closer to trying this.

So these are the things I was looking to get out of this challenge – I am 243 days in – how is it looking so far?

1. Discipline
   Being able to say I have actually drawn something for 243 days in a row feels incredible. I feel like a real artist, an actual honest to goodness proper artist. When I start to stress about how I will ever produce enough work to make a living in this field I remind myself I have managed to produce 243 drawings already this year on top of part-time work, my son’s foot surgery, parenting and cooking. As far as housework goes, I found a DVD on Margaret Olley’s life which featured her fabulous mess of a house, and I decided that real artists don’t clean.

2. Connection
My drawing posts are not going viral, but it makes me feel a million bucks to a walk down the street and have people I know and some people I don’t know congratulate me or express an interest in what I am doing. IRL connection is happening from doing social media in a way that lines up with who I am.

3. Self-Education
Some days it feels as if I have done 243 drawings and am still about 24300000 away from getting good at this and some days, I notice little things that feel different. I feel like I am becoming braver about just painting what I want even if it’s hard. I am not so worried about if I “can” paint it. I just do it.

4. Inspiration
I’m doing it, I’m doing it!

5. Portraiture
I am running out of days to put off drawing people! The year is past the halfway mark and barreling downhill towards the end. I have made some inroads and started drawing people from photos, I have done a couple of selfies taken with friends and a portrait of my dad. I persist in making self-portraits from life even though I am not very good at it. I am working up the courage to hire a model and start a life drawing group.

After drawing for 243 days in a row, I can say for sure there are a lot of terrific reasons why it’s worth making time for. I think even for someone who is not looking to make a living from art drawing has so much to offer. It is such a fabulous way of stepping out of the stress of whatever has happened during the day.

In “Will it make the boat go faster?” Ben Hunt Davis lists the moticational tactics that the British rowing team used to win gold. One of their tips is to “Make the journey fun. Creating a drawing everyday and posting it on social media is making my journey to becoming a better artist fun! It gives me permision to stop and capture any little thing that fires my imagination. It connects me to people who are intersted in what I am interested in and it lowers my blood pressure!

Have you ever become so absorbed in drawing that an hour passed yet felt like 5 minutes?

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Technology is incredible. No longer do I have a stressful wait if someone doesn’t show up to our meeting, I don’t have to wonder if I got the time right, or if they’ve crashed. We can phone each other on “mobile phones”.

When I started my working life, invoices were written by hand and my accuracy was never quite good enough, to avoid the white-out!

At the same time, I am always wary. What parts of us, what tasks are so intrinsic to our humanity, that we lose ourselves if we blithely hand those responsibilities to computers?

Perhaps it is like everything in life. An ever adjusting and important grey area guided by our values.

Inspiration

David Hockney was the first artist I came across using an Ipad to make pictures. Stephen Bauman and Michael Klein made a podcast I found fascinating “Idiosyncratic Nightmare. What stood out for me was, high profile artists like Tania Rivilis and Steve Forster, saying how important using different mediums was in their work. That changing it up helped them pivot and grow their work.

I have felt a strong pull to try digital art even as I have reservations.

My reservations have been silenced by the amount of actual fun I am having!

Weirdly I find that the Ipad interferes less with my creativity.

One little pad and pen that I can do anything I want with. No longer do I need to choose one pencil and wonder where I dropped my eraser. Or arrange chairs around me to hold brushes, paint, water while I juggle my sketchpad.

With this little gadget I can just go! I hadn’t anticipated that it would enable me to draw from life so much more easily.

 I was originally hoping it would let me make art  without the rigmarole of trying to photograph and find the right format for recording, printing or making fabric/tshirts.

Below are some of the Ipad sketches I have done so far. Next on the list is to see if I can transfer these ideas to other mediums like oil and watercolour.

I’m so excited!!!

Results so far – from my #oneyeardrawingchallenge

https://www.facebook.com/people/Amy-Wood-Artist/100092200239326

212 days of drawing- so far so good – Amy Wood Artist

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I had found David’s art in a library book a few years ago and really liked his style. His large colourful canvases and willingness to experiment with technology were inspiring. My interest in his art just bubbled quietly.

When he died the internet was flooded with videos of David, unashamedly chain smoking and speaking with fabulous clarity, about the joy of making art. He spoke of why art matters, why even though it feels a mad thing to do he kept painting anyway. I loved the way he spoke with conviction on how a painter can show things a camera doesn’t see.

This resonated so powerfully with me. I love painting from life. Sometimes I run out of time and have to finish the painting from a reference photo. I find the photo tells a totally different story compared to what I saw with my eye. How do I grow my skill to the point I can work without relying so much on photographs. Drawing helps me make a picture first as a useful reference.

David’s confidence and unashamed enjoyment in those interviews helped me feel like it is ok. I can be a bit mad and keep making pictures.

Two things happened.

1. After years of feeling I could not justify the expense. I have bought an ipad, downloaded procreate, and begun a satisfying obsession with it. (My son is affronted that I don’t want to load Minecraft onto the ipad so he can play computer games on it – I will probably cave but this little gadget feels like the gateway to an exciting world for me and I hesitate to share it.)

2. I have had in my shed, still wrapped in it’s packaging, a roll of canvas, to use one day for large paintings. Then came all those amazing photos of David Hockney, with 6 huge canvases stacked up on easels painting outdoors in Yorkshire. The idea was so exciting to me – how does he do that? What does he do if it rains or the light changes? How does he work quickly enough to put enough paint on such a large are and still tell the story? It made made me excited enough to try it myself even if I don’t actually know the answers to any of these questions.

I sketched my idea first – A triptych that’s been bubbling. I chose a subject I have painted many times, hoping familiarity would help with speed. This weekend I gave it a crack. It definitely felt mad – I spent the first few hours fluffing – putting on a bit of paint and wondering what I was doing. Talking to my cows, resting in the shade, listening to the birds. I find it quite hard doing this kind of painting – I inevitably end up in the glaring sun. I sweat, my eyes hurt, my paint dries faster than I can put it on, I get bored, It’s so big and I am so far away from finished!

Fortunately the weather was on my side. After dragging myself through the first day it started to gain momentum by the afternoon. I could finally see my subject appear as I wanted it. It doesn’t happen often but I got lucky and the second day was another glorious sunny winter day so I was able to keep going with much more focus and finish my paintings.

I vacillate between triumph at having managed this and terror that I am in fact bonkers and no one but me will love this picture. Mostly I am just thrilled to have finally begun and actually made this large scale work that has called to me for years.

The post Inspired by David Hockney’s art first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.

It still feels a little bit nuts. My life has a lot that needs to be done. Drawing is, on the surface, quite a frivolous thing to do.

I have many art heroines and heroes for whom drawing was a wonderful and relied upon tool. This challenge is helping me feel like I to, am an artist.

Sitting down to draw everyday, is somehow elevating my art to an “important” place in my life, it feels good.

There are days when it is late at night, I just want to go to bed,drawing is tired. Most often, the drawing takes me out of the noise in my head, I am restored and relaxed afterwards.

I feel more confident to play and experiment in my paintings. To be a little bit crazy and push past my comfort zone. I feel less like any of it will be the end of the world. All this play counts towards building my skills.

The paintings come a little easier and the ideas are tripping over each other to be realized.

Life is always demanding but the tough patch of the last few months is easing. I have a little more life to give my art.

I feel excited and very proud about how this challenge is unfolding. Certainly it is making me pay more attention and try more consistently. Putting my drawings out publicly provides this huge motivation to improve. I return to my books and keep trying always, to make better pictures, that resonate. Especially since I seem to keep returning to the same subjects over and over. I feel if I can unlock a self-portrait that everyone thinks looks like me, I will have hit the jackpot!

To catch my daily drawing follow along on facebook or instagram Amy wood artist

https://www.facebook.com/people/Amy-Wood-Artist/100092200239326

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I am very excited about these paintings and drawings – I am beginning to grow into my art and have FUN!

Paintings

Some of my most enjoyable paintings are painted direct from life. I love sitting outside in nature and capturing what I see in front of me. I find it a fun complement to painting in the studio from a photograph. Painting from life is dynamic and spontaneous. The light changes, the weather changes and it challenges my skills in a way a photograph doesn’t!

Some subjects are harder to capture from life. People and animals are to important to leave out – I paint them from photos I have taken. One day I will have the skill to paint them from life also but photographs are a wonderful resource and reference at the moment!

Drawings

I am so very proud to share some of my drawings in this exhibition.

These ten drawings are favourites from my One Year Drawing Challenge. Drawing every single day for a year.

I wasn’t sure if committing to this challenge was a good idea.

I am posting my drawing every day on facebook and Instagram (you can follow me @amywoodartist) So far the only negative side effect is a mild social media addiction.

The upside is that I feel so proud and delighted with the drawings, the process and how much I am learning.

I spend an average of one hour per day on these drawings. Drawing people is what I really want to get good at. Sometimes I have an idea that doesn’t turn out right the first time and then it takes longer than an hour to achieve the effect I was chasing. Wherever I can I draw from life – an experience I find meditative and delightful. Somedays the drawing doesn’t come easily, somedays the ideas flow and I have so much fun. I am finding doing this everyday there is an opportunity to catch the ideas before the magic floats past and is gone again.

I am so excited by what I am getting out of this discipline.

A reason to return to all the wonderful art books I have invested in and really distill the information they offer.

A huge respect for artists who have mastered this incredible skill and moved on to grow their art.

Check it out at Wondai art gallery 🙂

Below is a lovely article that made it into the North Burnett News

https://www.facebook.com/NorthBurnettNews

The post My last solo exhibition was 25 years ago! first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.

I can sit there in nature and soak it up in ways that are different to just passing through. Sure I get hot and sweaty and always manage to sit in a rocky spot with angry ants.

The light as it shifts, the whisper of the breeze in the eucalypts and against my skin, the smell of the air, the birds that come and go and how they interact with each other and their surrounds, my cows with their nose in my paint. These are my rewards. These beautiful subjects are from my 5 acre home. Favourite haunts that I am privileged to observe often.

Flowers from my garden are another obsession, sometimes I even buy flowers!. I love trying to capture the colour and liveliness. A little pocket of joy preserved to lighten your space 🙂

The post Painting from life in the sun and shade first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.

Follow me on instagram or facebook – Amy Wood Artist if you would like to see my daily drawings 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/p/Amy-Wood-Artist-100092200239326

The post Almost half way through my one year drawing challenge! first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.

Below is a little reel of April’s highlights and I will add my drawings from May as they happen.

Follow along on facebook or instagram at Amy Wood Artist and give me a boost 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/p/Amy-Wood-Artist-100092200239326

The post May-One year drawing challenge first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.

My glaze development followed the same structure – I would decide what ingredients would surely produce the delightful glaze I imagined and proceed to mix a 20 litre bucket of it. So confident was I in my imagination that it shocked me when the resulting glazes turned out to be awful.

Eventually I got sick of having 20 litre buckets of useless glaze and applied myself to testing small amounts.

No one would call my approach today particularly tidy or precise but I do have a book where I write down every damn time I try something new. If I change anything in the kiln I…write….it …..down!

When there is going to be months or years between when I try something that turns out nicely, and when I come back to use it again, I have learned to write……….it ………..down!

I went through a stage of laboriously testing and developing a set of glazes to pour on and layer with. All that effort didn’t really produce what I wanted.

One of my early mentors Paddy Bambling generously shared her glazes (if you are at convention hit me up I am happy to pass them on.)

Today I use 6 favourite glazes collected over time. At least half of which have Paddy’s celadon as their base.

When I knew her Paddy raw glazed (once firing). A process of applying glaze to raw pots at the leather hard stage instead of bisque firing and then glazing.

Initially, I too raw glazed enthusiastically, and couldn’t understand why anyone would put themselves through unpacking and packing a kiln just to bisque.

As a working parent I now bisque – that perfect leather hard stage seems impossible to catch. It is hard to let go of my high clay raw glazes even though I feel they might be limiting the effects I can achieve. I have introduced one clear glaze low in clay from another generous potter Jackie Gasson but I get frustrated when I bump things and it chips off easily. I also stick to minerals I believe to be reliably safe food and slightly less toxic if I get it all over me. I use iron, rutile, talc, tin, zinc and cobalt for inside cups and bowls. Commercially prepared underglazes are great for a bit of colour.

At the moment I am enjoying discovering how to get the best out of my six glazes. Dialing in on exactly what they can do. Thanks to the 3-cone temperature difference in my aged, and well-traveled gas kiln, I am learning what each of my glazes look like at different temps.

it’s amazing how many different effects I can make with six glazes. The bisque ware tolerates the application of more layers of glaze than the leatherhard clay. So I layer glazes in different combinations and I write down what I do. Sometimes I add light glaze decoration in the making stage and bisque that to add more depth.

 A hydrometer is a very useful tool that i have found helps me achieve consistent results. Each time I use my glaze I can make it exactly the same thickness.  I think I got this idea from Janet Deboos at a WBBPA convention but I can’t remember for sure. I have attached a couple of weblinks here to give you an idea how to DIY

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Hydrometer

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/article/Make-Your-Own-Hydrometer-for-Glazing-Success

I would still like to develop the skill of visualizing a glaze and proceeding to test and create it. It is just not where my life is right now!

The post How my approach to glazing has changed over the years first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.

I will start with a little reel snapshot of the best bits of march. Followed by my every day drawings as they happen in April. I am beginning to sneak up on the thing I want most to learn. How to draw PEOPLE. Stay tuned and catch my drawings at Amy Wood Artist on facebook and instagram. links at the bottom of this website.

The post April – One year drawing challenge first appeared on Amy Wood Artist.