Cheryl Wright

This year, I told myself, this year, God granting strength and good health, I will return to writing in earnest. I have no grand plans for this and no word count target. Just pure, free, unadulterated, deep, authentic writing whatever is in my head and on my heart at the moment I sit with pen and paper (notebook, journal). Of course, fountain pens for those days when I’m in the mood for smooth…

It usually takes me 3-5 days to wade into and begin splashing about in a New Year but for some reason, at 16 days into 2023, I still can’t seem to find my footing. It took a minute but I’ve moved from feeling frustrated about the “slow start” to a comfortable mental place and pace. I’ve given myself permission to not force things but to sit with this year’s “slow unfolding” with gratitude for…

Sketching a Persimmon 4 Ways

Why I have 2 Platinum Carbon Fountain Pens

I bought a Kaweco Sport red EF fountain pen a couple years ago and it’s been a disappointment as it is skippy – too skippy to comfortably and happily write and sketch even for a short period.  So I held off buying another colour, as I am inclined to do when I discover a lovely pen that captures my heart. Last weekend, as I scrolled through Amazon, a Kaweco Sport Green (a stunning Hunter Green)…

No two days are the same. There may be changes in the weather. Unexpected demands may emerge. After a bout of busyness, weariness may surface, slow us down or stop us on a tracks and prompt us to shift items on the day’s to-do list to another day. One thing I know for sure is that if before the day kicks into gear, I spend some time being grateful, feeding my mind with God’s Word, nourishing my…

My two-page spread experiment

Sketching across two pages, commonly called a two-page spread is not entirely new to me but I never made it “a thing”. However, I’ve been experimenting lately and I thoroughly enjoy doing them. I still enjoy working/playing on just one page – one sketch or two or several. But I’m becoming quite comfortable spreading several sketches across two pages. It’s fun and tends to capture more of my day…

No right or wrong. Just fun.

There are days when we might think we need some kind of profound zap of inspiration but this video, I used to watch with my grandson, inspires me crank up the “fun factor” by simply putting pen to paper. The initial lines didn’t quite work. Then some wonky lines, which threw the initial lines “off the reservation”. OOPS! the perspective was off-kilter. But you know what, I just went right…

Like many of my fellow sketchers, I like to have lots of different colours to add to my sketches. Not a week goes by that I don’t swatch the colours in the palettes I’m using at the moment. The exercise is fun, beautiful to look at and helps to get me unstuck. You know what I mean. However, every now and then, I wake up with the urge to switch it up, pare down, simplify, minimize. Today is one…

Getting comfortable with dip pens

The Speedball and the Tachikawa dip pens have been sitting in my pen holder for months. I’ve used the Tachikawa a few times in the past, but only for a day or two each time. I can’t remember the last time I used the Speedball though. A couple weeks ago, I saw a video that prompted me to reach for a dip pen in an attempt to get comfortable using them more regularly. Below I share two of my…

Creative safety makes space for creative flow

Danny Gregory says, Safety first and I agree wholeheartedly. “The ideal creative state is flow.It’s an incredible feeling of freedom in which each idea spawns the next, leading the artist deeper and deeper into new territory.Time flies. Magic happens. You emerge a little disoriented and glowing. The earliest experience we have of flow is in childhood. We call it ‘play.’Kids at play are free and…

Some days seem to call for mixing things up. I answered the call and used a combination of art supplies (pen & ink, watercolour paint, inktense blocks and watersoluble graphite) to create a page of overlapping sketches of random things. And ……. VOILA!

So, this coffee lover has been looking at frothers online for a while and there are some pretty pricey ones, especially those that come with holders/stands – who wouldn’t want a frother with a stand right?. I’m glad I didn’t rush to purchase one of those on Amazon because while browser-shopping at Excellent Stores – Holy Crapoli ! there is a frother at a reasonable price. It doesn’t come with a…

What’s up with these two strange things?

It’s fascinating to me how I’ve changed over the years. Some old thoughts and inclinations remained making me feel safe and comfortable as I navigated difficult situations. Equally fascinating is how I’ve adopted and cultivated new perspectives, new approaches and out-of-my-comfort-zone practices, which were born out of fear, pain, heartbreak, disappointment, success, a sense of adventure and a…

Shopping my kitchen for things to sketch

Spending a lot of one’s time in the same space can dim one’s view of the significance of items in that space. When it comes to sketching, especially in this time of COVID and restricted outdoor movements, the sameness of our days can render us feeling HOHUM, uninspired and singing that old song, “There’s nothing here to sketch”. Most often, it’s not just a matter of  the objects we see and use…

Coffee lover? Yes I am. But I also enjoy drinking tea. While coffee is my preference for early mornings, breakfast and mid-mornings, I love having tea in the afternoon. “Afternoon tea, right? To me, tea-time says self-care and can include reading, journaling, meditating, dreaming ….. Although silence and solitude seem to lend themselves to sipping a lovely tea, music and chatting with a BFF can…