Sketchosophy

You know, for a blog called Sketch Adventure there sure haven't been very many life sketches around here lately. About that...
I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I've been thinking a lot about what sketchbooking is lately. I have a pretty heavy schedule right now, so my opportunities to get out and draw are fewer than I usually like. But this just means that I've got to make sure to squeeze the most learning out of those times when I'm able to just go draw. I've tried to change my mentality about how I'm approaching drawing by attempting to focus on the basics again. Often that doesn't make for exciting sketches, but it does make for great learning experiences.
Anyway, I don't want to get too wordy (especially since I don't really know what I'm trying to say). I guess what I'm really getting at is that it continues to be valuable for me to switch things up--methods, media, subjects. And what has really helped me lately has been to actively think while I draw "what is it that I'm trying to learn from this drawing? Am I studying proportion, likeness, gesture, value, caricature, skeletal/muscular structure, narrative, or (hopefully) some combination of these?"...by doing that I feel like I get more out of each exploration, even when I don't have a tone of free time for lots of life drawing.
And here's some recent sketch explorations...some are better than others, but learning doesn't always mean a great product!