Art hobbies
Every writer needs other hobbies. Writing alone is fun, but sometimes it can be a lot. Either you have a big project you are working on, or other activities or responsibilities in your life take up your time, so writing must take a backseat for a little while. In the meantime, I personally enjoy doing art as another source of creative output.
Photography:
I have shown some of my photography as one interest of mine. I loved taking photos around the pandemic time of flowers in the yard around my house and then later of different areas of Nova Scotia which I love to visit. There is so many natural highlights to our province I love to capture and showcase for myself and others to see. I have written about these places and shared the photos I took in other blog posts, so feel free to check those out if you are interested.
Art collages and mixed media
I love making collages. Some people use collages to inspire them about the future like "vision boards" of what they aspire to have in their life. You can do this with magazine images or drawings, or scraps from things you have saved. It can cause some artists to hoard as they venture into this mixed media field of exploration with art materials and paper.
Fashion design:
One type of collage I enjoy making is what I call "fashion designs", which are essentially cut out magazine scraps I shape into clothing like shirts, pants, and dresses on premade model outlines that I trace through the paper from underneath. Once they are fully dressed in their unique attire, I save them in a binder to look at later or sometimes I will redraw them how I imagine the clothes would look if they were a bit more "real".
(photos of drawings I created from real designs I sewed for my dolls as a kid with real fabric)Art and Bullet Journaling:
I will call it bullet journaling because that name has been adopted by the journaling community online for dot grid journals at times, but originally bullet journaling was only about the lists you make on the page in point form. So to avoid confusion, I do both, I like to make my own calendar and daily pages in journals, decorate them, make lists (less bullet journal type lists and more simple to do lists, but still similar). I use them to record my daily activities, memories, and life events in them as well, but my favourite part of setting them up is the themes. Choosing a theme and either drawing, painting, collaging, or using stickers to fill up the pages in ways that enhance the experience of journaling and reflecting on your day in a fun interactive way is my favourite hobby. I usually set them up in December for the following few months, then proceed to finish off the last few months in January or a little later. I love having monthly themes to play around with and experiment. There is so much inspiration online for this and many journaling artists post videos of their creative process if you are looking for inspiration.
Painting:
There are many types of paints and styles to experiment with, but I have tried acrylic and watercolour in general painting images on paper, canvas, and mural size on our own shed. I have taken art classes in school, both high school, and university, so I am familiar with the process, but there are also valuable lessons you can learn about various forms of painting techniques online.
Sketching/Drawing/Colouring:
Traditional sketching is also something I was taught in art class. They do mention colouring, but there are a lot of fun instructional videos online about how to colour a colouring book page professionally if you are interested. I prefer to just colour them for destressing, so I only take on colouring books once in a while. Drawing freehand and sketching from real life or an image is my preferred method of artist expression with charcoal, pencil, or fine liners. I developed my skills in these areas through a lot of practice, whereas once I could not draw faces, I took on the challenge of drawing portraits until I could do it pretty well from reference and now they are often what I draw.
Other hobbies:
I hope to eventually experience more art related hobbies. There are many that interest me to at least try. I will probably stick with these main ones because they are so versatile, but it is beneficial to try out and learn new skills.
Some interests I have interest in pursuing would be something like pottery. I don't want a career in it, but I would love to see how it feels to spin clay into something you make to be useful just once. I would like to try more musical interests. I have dabbled, but my ability to understand or edit together music is limited to my comprehension and software. I would like to try more sewing again. I used to sew clothes for my dolls growing up, which made me think I would become a fashion designer one day. I dreamed of making clothes for women with pockets and shoes that felt comfortable and actually know what a foot was shaped like instead of squeezing your toes to a point. I wanted to make shirts that came all the way to your waistline again, and I wanted it all to be eco friendly. However, if I got back into sewing now, I think my focus would be to finish the quilt I started so many years ago that needs a backing piece sewn on.
I have tried a few other hobbies that I know I personally will not be returning to, such as knitting, which is far to complex for such a boring activity, but I am not saying you cannot make beautiful things nor that anyone else cannot enjoy this hobby. I know it is a popular one, but I think learning chess and cards and jigsaw puzzles was a lot easier that winding needles around in a particular pattern. Mine was always stubbornly too tight and always had to be redone. I also did a lot of needle felting as a kid, and it's kind of cool, but they can take up a lot of space compared to a flat piece of paper, and the fuzzy texture collects dust if displayed, so I didn't find it was something I wanted to keep up with. However, it is a nifty little hobby if you want to try it out. for yourself.
I hope you've enjoyed this little artsy post and if you have any hobbies that you are desperate to try, I suggest you find a way to try them. I think it's worth trying these new pursuits of art. It does not need to be perfect for you to enjoy creating art.
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