Contrary to what you might think by reading the headline, this type of “holiday” does not actually require any traveling…
You only need these 4 things:
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You
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Paper
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Pencil
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A space to be alone
So what exactly is a sketching holiday?
It’s a bit like it sounds. Just like holidays, it’s time off. You step away from your normal routine, and treat your time like a vacation.
Only this vacation is not spent snorkeling or zip lining… It’s spent with your sketchpad and creative spirit!
Your sketching holiday can happen whenever you’d like it to, and go on for as long as you’d like.
It doesn’t even need to last a full day if you don’t want it to, but of course it could go on longer if that’s what you desire!
Your sketching holiday could go for an afternoon, day, weekend, or month! Whatever time period you feel is going to bring you the most inner peace.
And during your time, you disconnect only to focus on art.
What does “disconnecting” mean for a sketching holiday?
The extent to which you’d like to disconnect from your normal routine is entirely up to you. As long as you decide on your boundaries ahead of time, you can approach it in any way that’s going to make the most sense for your needs!
But we will say, the more you’re able to offload some of your typical tasks to family and friends (such as taking your dog for walks, or making dinner, etc) the more it will truly feel like a holiday where you can immerse yourself into the full experience.
Of course, if you want to 100% remove yourself – there are ways to do so! For example, you could invest in a quiet Airbnb nearby, and allow yourself the space to treat your holiday like a Silent Meditation Retreat.
The bare minimum required for “disconnecting” during your sketching holiday is this:
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Absolutely no working. No checking your Slack messages or your email. Remove yourself from work entirely, this holiday is about YOU. Work can wait. (In fact, we recommend placing your phone in another room altogether while you draw).
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Cultivate a space where you can spend your time drawing left alone. This sketching holiday is your moment to disconnect with everything else but yourself. This time is for you, and you alone. Give yourself that gift to take the time you deserve. (If you want to make this a group experience, or with your partner, make sure you are all on the same page about how often you want to interact while sharing the space or taking the holiday together).
Whether your sketching holiday space is a room in your home that others are not allowed to enter during your time period drawing, or if it’s your front porch where you’d like to be left alone… Or a coffee shop you can sit at for the day… Or an Airbnb you’ve found nearby, or a hotel room you’ll rest at for the weekend… This space should be somewhere you feel is comfortable and allows you the space to hear your inner self.
What should you spend time drawing?
What you draw is your creative decision. You can approach it a few different ways, but this is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to get going:
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Return to some old Simple Daily Drawing prompts from previous months and re-create your visions in new ways with new techniques you’ve learned since the first time you drew them
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Jump ahead in your month and spend time drawing Simple Daily Drawing prompts that are coming up
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Start off with your favorite subject – whether that’s flowers, landscapes, city life, etc. and spend more time than you normally would adding detailing, or trying out a new type of texture to bring it to life
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Subjects you’ve never tried drawing before. Maybe something you usually find challenging, such as hands, glass, or a pet portrait.
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Spend time drawing in detail whatever is in front of you in your space.
The key is to allow yourself to draw for the joy of it – let go of your self-critiques, ask yourself where those critical inner voices are coming from, extend love to yourself, and release your stresses onto the paper.
You can also take this time to dedicate yourself to learning how to draw one new thing, and draw that over and over again – each time with more detail.
You could also take the time to draw just ONE sketch, and don’t stop your holiday until the scene is complete in your eyes.
How often should you take a sketching holiday?
There is no such thing as taking “too many” sketching holidays! You could make it a weekly, monthly, or yearly vacation for yourself.
Take a sketching holiday as often as you’d like to reconnect with yourself and with your passion for drawing.
What type of artist do you need to be to take a sketching holiday successfully?
You do NOT need to be an advanced sketch artist to participate in this type of disconnection.
Whether you’ve been drawing all your life or just picked up a sketchpad for the first time last night – you are welcome to participate in a sketching holiday.
The quality of the pieces you create during your time has nothing to do with your worth, your talent, your passion, or your character!
It is all about loving drawing for the sake of drawing, and cultivating a space to do so with self-love and reconnection with yourself.
What are the benefits of doing this?
By taking a scheduled sketching holiday, you can expect to come out of it feeling calm and reconnected with yourself – with a better understanding of how art plays a role in your life.
For some people that will mean their nervous system calms down… They feel more relaxed, the anxieties have melted away, and they become more aware of just how much drawing plays a role in their relaxation.
For others it will show them how often they may be critical of themselves, and how to allow themselves to make mistakes and love themselves more fiercely.
And yet, for others, it will be all about improving their artistic skills and getting clear on how they’d like to take their creative endeavors further in their daily life!
Until you’ve tried taking a sketching holiday, there’s no telling how it will positively affect you personally – but it certainly has wonderful effects on your mood, self-love, and advancing your creative thinking.
So if you’re ready to take a sketching holiday – grab your pencil and sketchpad and let the innocent enjoyment of drawing begin!
We can’t wait to hear how it makes an impact for you 🙂