Sketching, style, and doing it anyway

I've been sketching a lot recently. I'm trying to sketch every day, in my lunch break when I'm at work and in the evenings at home. Daily, if possible. Here's some of my latest drawings.

I live in a small town, there's a few shops but not too many since the big city (well, it's big for Switzerland, anyway) is very close. But for some reason, we have a Dutch shop. And it's been there for years. And last week, during my holiday, I finally went there. And got some of those lovely sprinkles to put on your bread. I remember them fondly from when I was a child and always got a slice of bread with sugar or sprinkles from the Dutch mum of my friend on the way to school. And they taste as delicious as they did back then.

I found this little travel box of mini water soluble coloured pencils in one of the department stores and of course I couldn't resist. They're perfect for adding a bit of colour to a sketch and fit into my pencil case, together with all my other pens and pencils that I take with me.

Back at work after the holiday, I didn't feel too happy and motivated about it, so I went to the nearby art shop to get some new materials during my lunch break to cheer me up. And of course I had to draw them all too. They had run out of the converters for the Art Pen, so I'm using the normal cartridges until I can get one. And since the ink isn't waterproof, I'm now making the best of that, and I'm really liking the results. A quick and easy way to add a bit of depth and shadow.

I find sketching among people, and especially sketching people among people, really hard. But it's something I'm pushing myself to do. And the university's cafeteria is a good place for that. So there I sit in my lunch break, looking for victims to quickly sketch while trying to avoid anyone noticing. I wanted to add a snippet of conversation, but it was so noisy that I couldn't make out any words at all. So I used the quote from my daily quote's app, and I think it is quite a fitting one. Then a large group of people crowded around the table next to mine and got far too close for comfort, and I decided to leave. But at least I had my sketch for the day done.

I've been thinking a lot about style when it comes to drawing and painting. And I know I'm not alone with this. I think it's a natural thing to do. But if it gets to the point that you're overthinking the whole thing and it actually keeps you from drawing or painting at all, then it's definitely a problem. I'm sure that even the accomplished sketchers and painters we admire sometimes struggle with this issue. I know for sure that some do, and, seeing their work, I would never in my have dreams have thought that sometimes, they feel exactly the same as me. But what they managed to do is to embrace and accept their style, and to just go on and do it anyway. So that's what I'm trying to do now too. Don't think, just sketch...