Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art and Writing

Artists' sketchbooks.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Looking through my old sketchbooks is an exercise in pain and amazement. Some of what I drew is amazingly bad and some amazingly good. One page fluctuates from lame, rehashed art-school drivel and then, a few pages later, I somehow drew something unique and real.

Visiting a gallery or buying a book that highlights the final product, the finished paintings, reveals a high standard of what can be. It shows off technique and concept and all that is good. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming, at least to me, because I can't imagine getting to that place, that beautiful finished product. I wonder how the artist arrived at the destination and I desperately want to see the road map. It's the sketchbooks, those behind-the-scenes bastions of shameful mishaps and great planning, that go into creating that finished work, that are the roadmaps. I've said to students that before they get depressed and down on themselves and their own art, they need to take a look at a stack of my sketchbooks and see the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Smithsonian's Archives of American art has some fabulous sketchbook samples from famous artists. Check it out. See what inspires you.