While I don’t regret not really studying art in college, there are definitely some gaps in my artistic knowledge that probably would have been covered by a more formal training. I was feeling particularly aware of those gaps in 2022, so I started trying to fill them by doing a lot of study and exercises in things like gesture, lighting, and composition, as well as more drawing from life than I had previously done. It was fairly tedious, but a great way to grow in skill and confidence. Most of the resulting drawings aren’t as interesting to look at as they were to draw, but I do still enjoy looking back on some of them, such as this set of still-life studies I did of a number of my houseplants, especially of one particularly long-suffering orchid whose history of neglect has left it with a lot of visual character.