About once a year I set aside a page in my sketchbook, or bullet journal, to do a marker test. I go through every pen I own including Sharpies, highlighters, Bic Permanent Markers, Crayola markers, Stabilo pens, Expo dry erase markers and everything in between. I document the quality and determine whether to keep or toss the utensil. I find it’s easy to collect art materials, especially when you’re like me and switch mediums regularly. It’s important to know that when I reach for a certain pen or marker, it’s going to work the way I want it to. I do keep a page at the back of my sketchbook open for testing mediums, but it’s an important part of the process of creating art to go with the flow and just draw.
Joan Miró (1893-1983)
Miró always maintained a rigidly inflexible daily routine—both because he disliked being distracted from his work, and because he feared slipping back into the severe depression that had afflicted him as a young man, before he discovered painting. To help prevent a relapse, his routine always included vigorous exercise—boxing in Paris; jumping rope and Swedish gymnastics at a Barcelona gym; and running on the beach and swimming at Mont-roig, a seaside village where his family owned a farmhouse.
Miró hated for this routine to be interrupted by social or cultural events. As he told an American journalist, “Merde! I absolutely detest all openings and parties! They’re commercial, political, and everybody talks too much. They get on my tits!”
From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
