31 - your other hand

Let go of the grip of the conscious critical mind by confusing and tricking it into submission, prevent that part of the brain from relying on the safe tricks that it's developed in an attempt to produce a "good" or "impressive" style.

Comparison with a drawing of the same thing undertaken with your ‘usual’ hand will demonstrate that whilst a ‘wrong hand drawing’ won't, in all likelihood, produce a great physical likeness, it will produce a more emotive image.

Charm, humour and interestingness, this exercise will almost surely illustrate, doesn't come out of the sureness of style or habit that your usual hand gives but more than likely from this looser, more liberated, less dominant hand.

30 - journal

“I have always felt it is my destiny to build a machine that would allow man to fly,” wrote Leonardo da Vinci in his journal alongside a sketch for an impossibly ingenious invention he called his Flying Machine. 

Through his journal, Leonardo da Vinci learned and shaped the ideas that lead to his final paintings, inventions and insights.

You might think of your journal as a notebook, a diary, a friend, confidant, a playground, a dumping ground for excess thoughts, a scrapbook of your ideas and dreams, a place to illustrate insights and reflections, all of these in one or something quite different.

29 - absorb the seasons

The rhythms and cycles of the seasonal changes will of course have an effect on our reactions and moods.

The visual changes are stimulating, and the temperature changes create automatic responses in our minds and bodies. 

Spring is a lively time, full of freshness and new beginnings. 

Motivated by the sight of bright flowers and new shoots, its a time when we might find ourselves attracted to vibrancy.

Splash the colours you see around you onto paper or canvas. 

Let go of form and perspective,  just capturing the colours is an excellent way to wake up your senses after a long, dark winter. 

Summer encourages us to take things a little slower and step outside.

Recuperating and soaking up the sun rays, it's a time of taking notice of the brightness intensity of the world around you. 

Autumn, very different to spring and summer, where leaves turn red and golden and orange. 

A time of harvesting, are your ideas ready to harvest, or will they need more time? Do they need reshaping or pruning, to help them grow strong? 

Winter is naturally a time of hibernation, regeneration and rest but a good time too to keep in contact with others to avoid becoming a hermit. 

Read books by the fire, do some investigation of ideas that may have come up during autumn and let the ideas mull like wine.