Try this one simple thing

The prompt is ‘nest egg’ for the 28 Feathered Friends Art Project. I immediately pictured a fluffy bird sitting on an egg in a nest. But where was the fun in that setting?
Imagination took over and I ended up with what you see above.
But before I arrived at this end result, I tried this one thing.
I’m sketching rough ideas out first. On scrap notebook paper. I know a lot of people have been doing this for centuries, but I’m not a lot of people.

Throwaway paper takes the pressure off facing the blank page. Making that first mark. It takes away the fear of ‘ruining’ a nice clean sheet in the art journal. You know the one — the journal meant for great works of art created by your hand. Perfect in every way.
So yeah, sketching a concept out first on paper that doesn’t really matter has helped me tremendously and it frees me up to expand on what might be fun. To explore.
In this case, to have her standing, holding up her feathers so we can better see her nest egg.
I don’t know how the gold bars actually got UP there in the nest, but that’s the beauty of imagination. I’ll leave that up to you.
Go grab an old notebook and your favorite pencil and sketch something, anything. Let your imagination come out and play. No pressure. Have fun.
Until tomorrow, may your scrap pages be filled and your pencil need sharpening. Now go.