Overcoming procrastion using charcoal drawing, my process....

During this self isolating period, I thought I was going to get a lot done, but due to the distraction of the bad news, I found it hard to concentrate and get into my groove with the type of paintings I had hoped to have time to do for years!  Time flies so fast, and though the isolation seems long, when we come out of it it will seem like a blip on the screen of life.  Still, I had to fight my own depression, and laziness, and finally get into the studio and do the real work of painting.  I finished my first oil painting that had already been started before the quarantine, but I felt like my progress was way too slow.      So I realized that one phase that didn't involve a lot of color mixing (decisions, decisions!), but was invaluable to getting started was committing to a sketch in charcoal on the canvas.  I had trouble settling on one idea, from my many references I have accumulated from my excursions to Talbot and Jeckyl Island bone yards.   So I pulled out all my prints of the photos, meditated on them for ages, then the cream would rise too the top.  I began to sort out the definitely nots from the maybes. I had already prestretched 10 canvases so I had them raring to go.  My strategy was to outflank my laziness and procrastination by limiting my choices.  I would only do charcoal work, no paint until I had thoroughly explored the designs in that medium.  Once I had a body of sketches worked out, the ice would theoretically be broken and I would be off and painting, with style.  Style is what develops when you do something often enough to do it genuinely the way you most like.
I like learning the twists and turns of the driftwood, which to me is energy and time itself, encapsulated yet still somehow in motion simultaneously.