My Favorite Sketches from 2022

2022 was… well, it was a year. While I’m usually quite nostalgically inclined, this year I can feel myself reluctant to look back.

Looking back at these sketches, I can sort of understand why. 2022 was a massive year for us. We sold our house, the renovations of our new house properly kicked off and were finished with literal hours to spare before we moved in. Work got insanely busy and then it got even busier. Abel turned four and went off to school. Schools and daycares closed. Kids got sick and sick again. We got sick. There were lockdowns. We got covid. Life continued.

Only very few of these events made it into my sketchbook in a meaningful way. The sketches I liked best and have highlighted below were usually done during weekends or days away, or rare moments of rest. Instead of reflecting on all that was happening in life, in my sketches I focused on recording the moment I was in. Which, let’s be honest, is a good coping mechanism - mindfulness and all that.

I’m now in week 1 of 2 weeks off over the holidays, and enjoying some much needed downtime after the hectic Christmas celebrations with the family. I don’t know if I’ll do much looking back, or even looking forward. I’m enjoying not doing much of anything. I hope you have a restful couple of days off as well, and wishing you a glorious 2023. May the shit show of this world calm down a bit, inshallah.

Sketchbooks (in order of appearance): Sakura A4 sketchbook, Pith A4 sketchbook, Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook (A5 portrait).

Music from Epidemic Sound: 'Postcards from June' and 'Early Bloomer' from Magnus Ludvigsson.