Over the years I have had to deal many times with the art-block and lack of motivation derived from my depressive stages. This year 2020 did not start differently, because although on the one hand I start each year with set goals and new energy, a certain melancholy also invades me. Obviously we already know what happened worldwide and any plan that we had had was altered. Between various personal problems that I already had between January and March and the whole pandemic thing, my artistic production was directly affected. It was then that in mid-May I decided to regain some control and turn to my sketchbooks.

When my son was little I started coloring mandalas and that allowed me to eventually go back to painting. Another very effective way that I have found to overcome these blocks has been through the use of sketchbooks. When I didn't know what to draw, I would go to my sketchbook and start drawing simple lines, shapes, doodles, zentangles, and patterns, things that didn't demand too much perfection or personal expression. What's important is to keep the pencil or pen moving. This somewhat mechanical act of drawing tends to always motivate me, to want to include colors or to paint with watercolor or ink and to want to make perhaps more realistic or expressive drawings. In the last sketchbook I finished filling this process is quite clear.

I feel that I still don't use sketchbooks as much or as often as I would like, but I certainly can't live without them anymore, even though I find myself going through a difficult stage, sooner or later I feel the urgent need to start drawing anything again, no matter how simple.