Studio Notes no. 195

daily projects, sketchbooks and new writing

Hello Everyone,

Hope you have had a good week.

photo: still life with landscape jug - a daily drawing completed yesterday - my 8th drawing.

Just a few more photos to show you a little work in progress - and to show you the paper I was working on. I decided on experimenting with this dark brown paper I purchased from my local art shop - thinking it might be useful for something, maybe making a photo album. But then I considered the possibility of using the lovely oil-based pencils I am using. How would they show up?

photo: I started with white and pale grey, then layering colour. My idea was to allow the brown paper to peek through the drawing - else what would be the reason to use the paper? As it happened, I soon realised the paper would always want to peek through, so that was just fine.

photo: a detailed look at the candlestick in this still life drawing

I do like the resulting, subdued look to the whole composition. The only note of caution I make in recommending dark brown paper is this made it slightly tricky to photograph. I decided to mount the completed work on my usual warm white paper to give it a frame and this I think works well.

As a comparison - here is a drawing on my ‘usual’ warm white paper.

photo: here is a daily drawing from this week (it will be offered for sale in my next Wednesday update) I am sharing my daily drawings via substack notes, if you would like to follow along.

Shop News

Thank you to everyone for your interest in my miniature paintings - I have had a tremendous response to these. Yes, there will be more. I am working toward a new collection for my next update.

Wednesday 12th November - I will be updating my shop with daily drawings and a new collection of miniature paintings / ornaments. Preview from about 4pm - available from 7pm

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Exhibitions

I have work currently on show at Andelli Art in Somerset

I have a solo show of larger paintings available via Two Artists at Home - online.

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Thoughts on Daily Projects

So I am just over a week into this current daily drawing project. I have worked on many daily projects over the years. There will be a detailed sharing of thoughts for my paid subscribers coming in the near future - but I would like to share some ideas here too.

One question - indeed the question I get asked the most is:

How do you find the discipline to stick at something and work on a daily project?

My answer is this is about personality. If you are someone easily distracted or overwhelmed, you will be inclined to find a daily project more challenging, but this should not mean you don’t give it a try.

I can be determined and ‘bloody-minded if I will stop’ - this can work in my favour. But I have to negotiate with myself. Being a martyr to a project will not improve anything. The last thing you want is to come to resent the thing you love to do - so be honest with yourself before you begin: am I prepared or am I doing this on a whim? Be prepared: have materials ready. Know where and when you are going to work. Making a daily painting or sculpture will not somehow just fit in with anyone’s schedule. Be practical and ruthless with other things that might get in the way, in a reasonable way. Look over any past work you have done that will remind you of what you can accomplish.

You need to learn through experience. Understanding or acknowledging a project will have its highs and lows - is part of the process. I can enjoy that rush of love for something when it works out. When a piece of work is not what you want it to be, don’t be surprised. Brilliant all of the time is not humanly possible. A daily project is an opportunity to expose yourself to failures - you need to fail sometimes, to get a feel for what works and what does not.

Sometimes, with the best of intentions and planning, ideas just don’t come together and life does happen. Go easy, but stay strong. Most of us don’t have all day to work on a daily project - you may have a full-time job away from your art table. Consider how easy it really is to work at the beginning or end of a day. Are you really a morning person? Would your idea for a daily project work better as a weekly project - for example a project for Sunday afternoons? You could make that really special for yourself. Make it special - make it a learning experience.

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photo: tiny heads project from 2011

You may have seen these before, but if you are new to my work, you may not know about my tiny heads project from years ago. What started on January 1st 2011 - became an engrossing, enduring project that went all the way into June - when I finally decided to stop making the little sculpted characters.

I started out with a plan to maybe make a tiny head a day during January - thinking it would be ‘fun’ and lighten up a dark month. It turned into something more and I was gratefully encouraged by my friends via blog posts and ye olde Flickr (I am still posting on Flickr btw, I am a stickler who likes her archive there).

Will I be taking my current daily drawing project beyond this month? I really don’t know. I am mulling over the idea of making daily drawing a major part of my studio life in 2026. But let’s see how this month goes.

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Sketchbooks

photos: sketchbook pages in my collage book. Enjoying the playfulness of cutting and mixing pattern, texture and limited colours. The face/portrait in the top left page has had an interesting journey to get there - she is actually a tiny painting in my own collection. I took a photo of her within a miniature scene. I then altered the photo to black and white. This was printed at a much bigger than life size - I then cut up the image and used it in my sketchbook….

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New Writing - Seven Pieces

I am sharing here snippets, stories and poems. These are all my own work, copyright Cathy Cullis 2025, but you are welcome to share with credit. Thanks always for reading.

1.

Tomatoes

Remember, when we go to lunch at Uncle Cecil’s house, remember to say nice things about his cherry tomatoes - the older woman says to her younger companion. I look up from my coffee cup and smile. That’s all I came here for today, I think, just a snippet of a story - and now there I am at Uncle Cecil’s, presented with lunch and of course his homegrown tomatoes taking centre-stage on the plate…. But then the younger woman corrects the older: Mum, she says, Uncle Cecil stopped gardening this year, remember? His accident? The dog? The greenhouse is filled up with Uncle Bob’s cacti!. So now, I am writing rapid revisions for my story…. Poor Uncle Cecil and his usurped cherry tomatoes…

2.

Poetry Section

My son and I have wanted to visit this much bigger library in a nearby town - and here we are. It is a vast open space, with a curvaceous layout of bookshelves, a winding forest. We split up and plan to meet in a while. I go to the counter where a young woman librarian sits studiously looking like a librarian, reading an actual book and not a computer screen. I ask if she could point me toward the poetry section but instead she gets up from her desk and walks me over, gives me a short guided tour of the poetry section. More than the usual one shelf. I stand back and admire it all. Then like a child in a sweet shop, yes, I swoop upon the books and help myself - for happily my library ticket is valid in this branch. I look up from my stack of poetry to see, in the nearby children’s section, an older woman reading a book to a newborn baby propped on her knee - the child’s head nodding uncertainly as it listens.

3.

Good Rot

A magpie has discovered just how rotten the windowsills are on a nearby building - and so what to do but break the timber, eat the layers of insects homed within. The magpie gets excited about their lunch, wrecking, jumping about and seeming to be generally very pleased with themselves. I wonder how long it will take for anyone else to notice this vandalism, which is not really vandalism.

4.

Absent Ducks

Down by the river, it is November now and all the ducks have gone. A family of moorhens have been left minding this stretch of water. At least for now the moorhens are in charge. A strange, deciduous pine tree is shedding its brown needles into the river. The reeds are curling into the thickening water. Pigeons strut about on the riverbank, hopeful small children will come and feed them in place of the ducks. A butterfly, a beer can, a small sock - the same riverside, just no ducks.

5.

from a sequence of poems Landscapes

It is another quiet day -

birds are resting in the sky.

The paint of yesterday

is now a timeless gown.

There are no seams, no one’s near.

Home, not yet, thought

cannot conjure a doorway to there.

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and another from Landscapes

6.

Sheep in stone waiting to be mended.

Sky hung out to dry.

Uncertain trees held up with string.

Two figures and a flower, in deep conversation.

A sketchbook left behind in the rain.

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7.

A Visitor Reads

Virginia Woolf sits by the sunny window, browsing through a stack of books. She has come to wish me a happy birthday, but I am too miserable for her to be bothered. She is looking with some disparagement at a few new novels. She looks up at the window and says: it is almost too late. Too late for what, I want to ask, but then realise my coffee is getting cold and leave her to it. I return to my drawing desk in the other room, to my coffee, and find myself lost in what I should do. Despite my hopes and frail ego, I do expect Mrs Woolf to creep in, lean over my shoulder at some point and give a learned opinion - but she does not. She refuses. Instead, she calls out from the room - I’ve found one! I’ve found one I like! I know she means to read for the rest of the day. My visitor won’t mind when the light fades.

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photo: a recent daily drawing - a smaller one. You may see how I am allowing myself to go with the flow of ideas - candlesticks are appearing in many of these drawings. I suppose I have a slight yearning for candlelight - but would never light a candle in this listed building! Must seek out an electric candle soon. For now I have candlesticks for drawing reference but use a rolled up piece of paper for the candle.

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