When I just started drawing everyday I often complained about having no time for it. Getting a five-minute sketch done felt like a great achievement. Looking back it seems that I was lacking in motivation and stamina more than I was lacking in time.
Nowadays I can comfortably fit an hour of sketching into my day:
– Early in the morning. I started getting up at 5:30 am before everyone else is up. I write the morning pages, review my task list for the day and sketch. Depending on my luck I get between 20 and 50 minutes of drawing time before the youngest wakes up.
50 minute pencil sketch of the beer bottle
– While watching TV. I stopped watching TV on regular basis long time ago, but I occasionally join my husband to watch a movie. Recently I attempted to sketch the faces while watching “The Game of Thrones”. These quick sketches may not bear much resemblance to the actors, but the only way to get better is to practice and I was surprised at how loose my marks became after a while.
– While waiting. While waiting for the train I often do some quick drawings of the people on the opposite platform as there is no risk of them demanding to see how the sketch turned out and being unhappy with how they are portrayed. When my family and I go out to a restaurant I try to sketch while waiting for the meal to arrive.
– On the public transport. I’ve sketched on the trains and the buses, though the buses are harder due to the wobbliness.
– At the friends’ houses.
This sketch was done while my friend was planting flowers in her garden and our boys played together. I’m not a very chatty person, so after talking for a while, I felt more comfortable getting out my sketchbook than trying to find another topic to fill in the silence. As a bonus one of my friends caught the sketching bug and now, whenever we get together, she is the first one to suggest we take out our sketchbooks and do some drawing.
– In short snatched moments while the kids are happily occupied with toys, books, playing in the bath, their own painting. Sometimes I have to share my nice supplies to prolong the peaceful moment, but it is worth it.
I done this super-quick (2-3 minutes) sketch of the bird building a nest outside our staircase window while the kids watched it. I had to be really quick as I didn’t want the youngest to become restless on the stairs.
– At the concerts, plays, etc. I love classical music and I haven’t been to the concert for a very long time, so I may plan one for the nearest future and bring my sketchbook with me.
When do you find time to draw?
Step, Skip, Pause 
I am happy for you that you found the discipline to draw. I don’t care if they looked like the people you rendered… I love them. I’m a little jealous too as I have not found my discipline or groove. live the pen and ink washes… keep it up. I’ll be following. 😉
Thank you for your kind words. I sway – sometimes I’m good and use every free moment to draw, at other times I resist and waste the precious time on something unimportant. After a while it got easier, but I still have setbacks in my commitment. I wish you luck in your own journey.
Thank you, and you.
Great post! I am still yet to fit sketching into my everyday routine. At the moment I still wait for some free time to go out and sketch but now I’ve started a smaller-size (less daunting) sketchbook I think I will be more able to do this. I rarely watch TV either but I love this idea of sketching while watching. Will do that next time we put a movie on!
🙂 In a way I was forced into finding ways to include sketching into my everyday routine as during usual week I’ll only get one outing on my own, which I can use for sketching. However since it is getting warmer and lighter for longer I may follow your example and go out sketching in the evenings after my husband gets home from work.