Note: This post, minus a few minor edits, was originally published on ScoutieGirl.com two years ago. Its relevance endures, it's worth posting again.

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This tiny easel sits on my computer at the office. It makes me happy to see it every day.

Do you spend most of your week in a cubicle when you’d rather be in the studio making stuff?

If the answer is yes, you’re not alone.

For various reasons many of us choose to work at a job that doesn’t involve using our right side of the brain all that much and has us spending many hours in less than inspiring grey-walled cubicles.

Even if we like our day job it can feel like a double life sometimes this office vs. studio scenario, left vs. right, grey vs. colour. Thankfully there are ways to lessen the gap.

Below are a few things I’ve tried to help make my days in the cube a little less drab and a little more pleasant. They may not always cure the “I-don’t-wanna-be-here’s”, but they do help. If you’re in a similar situation, you may find some of them useful too.

Build a creative practice around your work hours.

Commit to your craft by practicing it each day you go into work, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Do it in the morning, at lunch time or after the kids have gone to bed. Claiming and asserting your creative identity can do wonders for the left-brain doldrums.

A few years ago I adopted a work day studio practice and completed more paintings through two months of regular 30-minute spurts than I did while I was on a one-year sabbatical. I've since switched that practice for something else, but the satisfaction I felt is engrained in my memory. It was a game-changer.

Find a creative outlet that you can practice during breaks and lunch hour.

Can you do something with your smartphone or your tablet? A sketchbook and a pen? Knitting needles? It may not be in your usual medium, but it will allow you to flex your creative muscles.

Read books related to your craft, creativity or inspiring creatives during breaks and lunch hour.

Make creativity and inspiration a regular part of your day. If your office job involves number crunching, your left brain will enjoy the break.

Include reminders of your creative identity in your workspace.

Hang up magnets, quotes or postcards related to your craft. If adorning your workspace isn’t practical, carry something in your purse or wallet as a touchstone.

Talk to your colleagues about your art.

Some of them may be creative kindreds themselves and you never know, your cubicle mate may become one of your biggest customers!

Remember why you’re at your current job.

If the primary motivation for staying at your current job is money, remember what that money is paying for. It might be your dream home, your child’s education, or travel. Maybe it’s helping you build up your art supply stash or pay for creative workshops.

Acknowledge and appreciate what your job allows you to do and how it supports your current lifestyle.

Finally, remember that your paid work is only ONE part of your life.

You are not your job. There are many more facets to life than how you create revenue. Sometimes putting less than ideal situations in perspective helps make them more palatable. I write this as much for myself as I do for you.

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I would love to hear from you.

If you’re sitting in a cubicle or working at a job that doesn’t feed your creative soul when you’d rather be doing something else, how do you cope? What do you do to make it work?

What could you do?

Earlier this year at the office, out of desperation after an especially difficult meeting, I grabbed a 3"x3" piece of paper from a notepad sitting on my desk and with my mechanical pencil, quickly sketched the first face I saw: D's face grinning back at me from a photo that was pinned to my cubicle wall.

After that I Googled images of Emily Carr and quickly sketched her face on another sheet from my notepad.

Then I sketched the face of Clara Rockmore because she happened to be the Google Doodle feature that day.

Just like that, out of desperation and without much thought, I'd sketched three faces.

I pinned them to my grey cubicle wall.

The first three: Emily Carr on the left, D. in the middle and Clara Rockmore on the right.

The next day I did the same thing. And the day after that.

Then I set a secret goal: each day in the office I would sketch three more faces until I had 100 of them pinned to my grey cubicle wall.

"Sketches from the Cube" was born.

I met my goal. It was met imperfectly - meaning that on some days I forgot to sketch or simply skipped it, but goshdarnit I met it.

Here they all are: 102 faces including one contributed by a colleague. Huzzah!

What did I learn from this experiment?

I learned a lot of things and I want to share some of them here because

a) I want to show you that making art doesn't have to be complicated, and

b) that it can be done even at your day job.

Alors voici, seven things I learned by bringing a regular art practice to the cube:

1. You don't need fancy tools to make art (but too cheap isn't good either).

I used a notepad I got for free at an industry conference and a mechanical pencil to do my sketches. When my freebie notepad ran out I bought a new one, but I kept it on the cheap.

Full disclosure: that second notepad ended up being frustrating to work with, it was too cheap and the paper was thin. Because I wanted to finish my experiment using inexpensive materials I used it anyway and made a note to find something better the next time. It could have easily become a deterrent.

2. You don't need a lot of time to make art.

Most of the sketches were made during my lunch break with the odd one completed in the afternoon if I needed to recharge. Three sketches rarely took more than 20-30 minutes, if that. The most time-consuming task was figuring out which photos I wanted to use as my models that day.

3. Pinning art on your cubicle wall is an amazing conversation starter.

It was fun to see my colleagues react when they turned the corner and saw my cubicle wall full of faces.

In almost every case the first thing they'd ask is if I was the one drawing them, which often led to talking about my art and my process. Many asked if I was drawing them, my colleagues, to which I responded "No, that would be awkward." One person mentioned he might set a similar goal with a skill he wanted to enhance, my cube neighbour contributed a sketch of James Dean on a yellow Post-It note, and another colleague - a fellow creative - hugged me when she saw the completed 100!

It was a fun conversation starter and you never know where those conversations may lead.

4. Regular practice leads to progress.

When I did my sketches every day, by the fourth or fifth day I grew more and more satisfied with my results. The flip side was true too: after having skipped a few days I struggled through the process and often noticed a decline in the end results. Consistency is key.

5. That being said, there will be "off" days.

Some days were just harder than others, period. My results were downright sucky and it took four or five starts for me to produce something I felt was wall-worthy, and even then I wasn't overly happy.

The trick when that happened was to pin those suckers up, move on and pat myself on the back for having persisted.

After all, I was now three faces closer to my goal.

6. Sharing incremental results is a good motivator.

Sharing my results and goal with my colleagues was a great way to stay motivated. The progress was made visible for all to see and because I have my pride, I wanted to make sure that wall saw the full 100 faces.

Sharing photos of my results on Facebook was a good accountability tool too and as a bonus, a great way to receive encouragement from friends and family.

7. Completing 100 instances of something builds confidence.

If you compare my first sketches with later ones, there's a noticeable difference in the lines, shading and even how I used the sheet. The early sketches are light, tentative and smaller in scale, while the later ones are much darker and assertive, and often go right off the edges of the paper. As I progressed I was less afraid of going strong with the pencil and broke many bits of lead - a good indication of confidence, I'd say.

Also I now know I can draw faces. I've done 100 of them - good, bad and everything in between. Whenever I feel flustered or intimidated at the prospect of capturing someone in a portrait I can tap into that experience and move forward with confidence.

BONUS: Bringing an art practice to the office reminds you that you are more than your day job.

We are artists and creators no matter how we spend our day in that cube. Having 100 faces or [insert whatever artwork you like to create] plastered across the walls is an excellent reminder.

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Are you convinced? Think you'd like to give it a shot?

Let me know in the comments.

I'm contemplating a 2nd edition of Sketches from the Cube, this time with florals. It would be lovely to have you along!

How To Survive The Cube When You'd Rather Be In The Studio