Sketchy Thoughts | September 2, 2026

September 9, 2026

A week of mixed media. Analog pages, digital surfaces, and sketch challenges. Light battles darkness as the seasons shift. Daily art, sketch challenges, and personal milestones keep us moving forward.

Substack: https://monumentsinruin.substack.com

Sketchy Thoughts | September 2, 2026
Documenting the week of August 26 - Sept 1

Lots of mixed media this week. The light doing battle with the darkness, changing of seasons in the real world, and in the medium of choice. There are some moments of struggle through this week’s work, but also a few personal triumphs. The most important thing is to keep moving forward.

Daily Art | August 26 - September 1

Started a new page in the analog circuit this week. Such a nice feeling to scratch the pen across the paper. Even if there’s not a specific direction involved, this is a comfortable way to dig into some flow of creativity.

As the weather is starting to change and leaves are starting to fall, I foresee myself using this digital work surface more often. It works well when the lights are low and is generally comfortable for goofing around and burning some time. It is not equal to an analog surface, in my opinion, but is very colorful. Even when it feels dark inside.

Still exploring these brighter backgrounds. Something about the pink really resonates with me as a backdrop. This entire color palette was fun to use. I did not have a direction to start with but the end result is nice.

This is an extension of my Sunday challenge. You will see it below. This was an effort to work with heavier weighted lines, light and shadow direction and general surface conditioning. It feels like there may be a few puzzle pieces connecting here. Digital flow results are always much different than analog.

Unfortunately, I did not take a screenshot of the Substack artist and photo that this piece was inspired by. This sequence is completely different from their photograph but, it was the inspiration that stuck in my head.

It always interests me how we can take a small piece from random things and how our initial attempt and end results turn out so completely different. It would have been really nice to add this to my collection of Substack inspired works. After all, it absolutely is. I dropped the ball on referencing the source inspiration and apologize to the original photographer for not being able to credit their unknowing impression upon me.

This is my original work but the bright, foggy background bursts totally came from their photo.

Back to the analog work surface. Sometimes you have to recharge your soul with that wholesome connection to the craft. Perhaps it may also be time to recharge the digital tools, right? In this case we are looking for some light evening entertainment and continue working on this page feels good. What a fun place this is moving towards. Until next week, thank you for following along!

LearnToDrawTogether Sunday Challenge | August 23

About the image (if applicable)

image (with Day and Challenge description)

Drawing Challenge Number 50 - Choose ANY Previous W2DTogether Challenge!

Well, since i spaced out and neglected last weeks challenge, this lands at a perfect time. I can us this to play catch up!

I chose Number 49: Draw the Window You Wish You Could Wake Up To Tomorrow

You can clearly see where the inspiration for the above work we discussed had originated. Using light and shadow and the moon and pyramids. All of the above collected effort was first found in this work. I’ve really enjoyed both of these pieces and may work more on them as a collection in the future. Feels like I’m reaching for something here. Something that lurks under the surface.