Rhi Axtell – Writer

Finding time to sketch on a family holiday is difficult. So I thought I would write (complain?) a bit here about my annoyingly specific art process which really limits my sketching time.

First off, I am still at the start of my artistic journey. This means I get really uncomfortable if I think someone is nearby and can see what I am drawing. In a small Airbnb, this is particularly challenging.

I have countered this issue slightly by listening to podcasts at the same time as drawing. This allows me to shut off the world around me, drowning out all sounds except for (at the moment) the voices of the brothers in My Brother, My Brother and Me, or the creepy and silly stories in Wolf 359. Still, my father-in-law is the curious type and will still wander over to peer at my sketchbook so positioning is also very important.

I sketch in corners. At the far edges of tables. I sketch on my bed (until my back starts aching or I get accused of being anti-social). If there was a box I could sit in, with sufficient light and a comfortable chair, where no one else could bother me, I would definitely sketch there all the time.

I think I just described a shed. Yeah, I guess I need a shed. Some kind of portable shed?

Also, I can only really draw in the afternoon. In the morning I am overly critical and sleepy. In the afternoon, I am just sleepy, so the pencil flows freer. Interestingly, with writing it is the opposite. I cannot write in the afternoon. It seems my critical brain works in shifts. Art for the morning shift. Writing for the afternoon.

Why is there such a timetable? Why does it work sometimes and others not? I’m definitely not the first artist to ask these questions and won’t be the last. Ultimately, as long as it works sometimes, that is fine with me.