Sketchbooks: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Here are a few of my sketchbooks and journals; I've since added many more as any artist and writer is like to (unless they stop working). These are off of my older stack of books, all the links and galleries and information taken off of an older version of my website. I thought it might be nice, however, to include some of these for a while or as space on my server allows. Who knows. I may even add some of my newer sketchbooks, journals, and image collage books in the future. As it is, you can have a look at work from my college career to a few years after and either laugh (to yourself) or be inspired.----------
1993: This is the first sketchbook I had at college. I came from a background of no art in school, and was very nervous my first few months at college. I didn't know what to choose for subject matter. You can see the difference from the figures at the beginning to the more fluid and gestural figures towards the end. The life drawing classes and working from a live model were invaluable to me. It helped to loosen me up in my line work. This sketchbook also shows that for every good image you come up with, you have about four or five hideous ones hidden somewhere. I almost hated to put some of these on here, but it can be discouraging to see an artist's really good work only, and not what it took to get there..1994: This was one of the second or third sketch books that I had. It was heavily damaged in when the basement I lived in was flooded (you can see the mold spots on the pages), but it is one of my favorite sketch books - there are some great figure studies in the second half. The first images are rather stiff - they were for an illustration class and I had a hard time drawing specific subject matter. The last half were from life drawing classes and on my own over a summer break - much more fluid. Some real breakthroughs in my figure studies. I still refer to this book sometimes. Not all pages are visible here - some were too badly ruined to even show much, particularly when I drew in graphite.
1995: This sketch book is where I discovered a lot about pen and ink as well as abstract figure work. A lot of good stuff is happening in this book, particularly in the pen and ink images.
1996: This sketch book turned out to be a catch-all for a lot of classes - you'll find sketches for my printmaking classes, Kollwitz sketches for drawing classes, and so on. Since it wasn't filled during school, some of the final images are as recent as this month. Gotta use up the paper! Some good ideas here.
BFA show book: This book was part of my B.F.A. senior show. It was a visual diary of sorts that visitors to the show could sit down in a chair and look through (wearing white gloves I provided, of course). My focus in this book was to discover where I was from and what I remembered, as during my senior year I started to realized I assumed a lot and realized little. It was a good experience for me - this book brought more comments from people reading it than any of my other work or books combined. It struck a chord I guess. Most importantly, it was much fun to do! I am indebted to the work of an artist whose last name I am about to butcher - Portvleitt. His books are wonderful little journeys to read.
Book of What Was: This book I call the "Book of What Was". It is a collection of memories from my childhood, and was included in my senior BFA show along with others. It is a running poem, with each line a separate picture and memory. I used mixed media ranging from gesso, watercolors, charcoal, pastel, ink, and graphite. The poem is as follows:
the...
wasps with no nest of their own
a Barbie too big for her home
firecracker tag late at night
couldn't catch them without a fight
rooster would get you if you moved slow*
blue jays playing near the fron window
mindless sheep need a leader (in vain)
everywhere, acres and acres of grain
this guitar, only one went near it
a night so silent and still, you could hear it
fat cat waiting for food by the door
two guppies that quickly became more
now three blue jays that won't go away
a lonely dog who just wants to play
plump geese someone else will cook
tall wild grass everywhere you look
the book of what was
Horse Book: This book was also at my senior BFA show. The cover is burlap, with sewed on sections of horse mane from the different horses in the book. The first images are general sketches. The last images are watercolor and are of our horses at the time. All of the horses have since died.
Lami Li Sketchbook: These sketches are from a blank book I ordered that used lami li paper. You see these books advertised in art supply magazines. Anyway, they make the paper sound so fabulous, but the deal with this paper is that it is extremely soft and textured, and really only suited for pencil or charcoal. These sketches are a mixture of whatever I felt like drawing. It covers a few years, so styles and interests are different throughout the book
Maroon Sketchbook: This book was the first book I ever made, and the binding is terrible. However, the watercolor images are loose and fun. I started with farm images from outside, and the did a few from black and white photos that I found in my grandmother's house.
Graphic Design Sketches: This sketchbook is a mixture of images that I had to draw for various designs for customers. There's no theme here. These are just me working out how I was going to get an image for a T-shirt order of a logo. There's also some caricature practice going on here. Not my strongest sketchbook by any means, but it is an example of working for money, I guess.
Green Diary/Book: This book is a kind of diary sketch book combined. There's no rhyme or reason to any of the images. It reveals what is going on in my mind, as I tend to jump around in thoughts and likes. But a fun book to look through. Fairly personal.
Red Book: This little red book is my "minimalist" book in that I offer the viewer a picture, and a word or two, and let them do the rest. They make the connections and assumptions. It has some fun little images. I call this book my "Story of Everyday".
Black Diary/Book: It is what I say it is - an old diary. So I'm hoping you can't read (very well) what is written! Not all of the pages are here, but I did try to show a kind of look where pictures add to what is written. Or, at the very least, how to make a page a bit more interesting.
Miscellaneous Sketches: Fairly self-explanatory, these are some of the sketches I do outside of books, on a whim, on scratch paper...not all sketching finds inspiration when a book is handy, I'm afraid.
DC Talk book: I was once a rabid fan of DC Talk. There. The truth is out. (sigh). Anyway, my friend from back home was equally as rabid, so one year I made her an "unofficial" DCT fan book. While not so crazy now for the group, the images are very interesting, and I really came up with some layout and ideas here that still catch my eye. I used inks, rice papers, the typewriter, and even the masking tape that was torn off of my drawing board, covered in paint and pastels. I liked what I did here - it was something completely unlike anything else I'd done.