This November I spent a week at the artist residency Vindbyholtgård, which is located on the southern part of Zealand in Denmark. The rural surroundings provided a calm and beautiful place to finish the illustrations for a book I’m working on, that is coming out next year. I brought along my good friend and colleague Cathrin Peterslund, who was also working on illustrations for a book, so when we weren’t working we could go for nature walks, cook together, craft and gab in front of the fireplace.
“People who say “grow up” … they can just get lost. I have much more to add to that subject, but I’m a bit too tired”.
While at the residency, I got to shake up my usual routines a little bit. I’d get up at 7 am and go to the common kitchen where I’d spend the next two hours with my sketchbook while the sun rose. I’d brew coffee, bake buns and have breakfast while doing my daily diary comic – a practice I’ve kept consistent since May this year. Around 9, I’d go back to our room and start working on the book. We’d take a walk after lunch while the sun was still up, and then return to work in the afternoon and into the evening.
“Don’t be afraid. I just need to saw a little bit”.
I realised there that it takes a lot of focus and time to make these diary drawings – time and focus I don’t have back home, where I do the writing bit every morning, but often don’t get to the drawing, which I then have to do in bulk later. As I returned to Copenhagen I immediately fell behind on my diaries, so as to prove my own point. And it made me think that as much as a residency is about what you do while being there, it is also about getting some distance to the daily grind and be able to see it in a clearer light upon return.
“What a beautiful field. I will sit here for a moment”.
In the coming time, I will see if I can either reproduce that focused capsule in the day to make my diary, or if I need to take my artistic ambition for the drawings down a notch. It is often quick and easy to choose which moment from my day to draw, but I spend a lot of time thinking about which piece of dialogue from the situation would make the best story. The inspiration for this practice originally came from the great Lynda Barry and her book Making Comics. In her daily diary exercise, she suggests doing the exercise within a 20 minute time frame! I’ve already made a few alterations to the framework to fit my preferences, but maybe it’s time to revisit, so I can make this practice – which I love so much – sustainable.
I shan’t attempt to translate this one. Salvation Army in Faxe Ladeplads.
A note on language: these drawings in particular are a little difficult to translate into English, as much of the tone is in the details of the words, and so I’ve let them be in the original Danish language, but there are translations in the image caption, when possible.
What the work spaces look like. With some critters I saw in the garden – wren, red kite, mouse.
This is the second time I’ve visited Vindbyholtgård, and both times have been much needed breaks from the endless to-do lists of home. I can recommend it to anyone looking for a bit of peace and quiet while working on a project. The rooms are beautifully decorated with antique furniture, and they overlook the garden, where a little family of muscovy ducks waddle around. The first day I observed a cat catch a mouse in the most cartoonish way, and we were visited by a wren a few times, who came into our room from under the roof.
“Friday night. I shall now present the arguments for going down one needle size. Based on this here gauge swatch –”
By coincidence, I just caught up to this episode of Creative Pep Talk, which is a conversation with Samantha Dion Baker, who has a visual journaling practice. I loved hearing her thoughts on why she journals, which is originally different from mine, although I recognise many of the aspects she talks about. I especially love the reflections towards the end on using drawing to practice POV, and its potential take back agency in (difficult) situations that are beyond your control.
//Sofie