"Sketching helps develop a number of different areas of your brain. You develop your ability to focus and pay attention, a skill that can be very useful throughout your life and career. It also develops hand-eye coordination so that everyday tasks can become easier for you"
from medium.com top-5-benefits
I gather most of the inspiration for my work from sketching, whether inside or outside, but, I particularly love outside.
Possibly an addiction is forming, when I sketch in the open air I am intensely aware of everything around me, the sound and feel, other creatures that are sharing the space I am in. All of these sensations are then held in the sketch I make, whenever I look at it again, I can acutely remember it all.
Other worries and concerns and "to do's" disappear when I am fully immersed in an intensity of looking.
It is usually a growing awareness of creeping cold that stops the process and thoughts of hot tea and aching limbs start to surface.
I have started to share my delight for this practice by running one day workshops with Shetland Council adult learning.
A bit of initial time is spent in the classroom setting to look at materials technique and inspiration, but, the focus is to spend time outside for I believe the act of concentrated looking, awareness and making has benefits for mental well being too.