Inspiration to carry a sketchbook.

 Take a look at more of Timothy Schorre's sketchbooks here. I used to do lots more drawing in public places. It works really well when you are in a busy spot where everyone is paying attention to something else so you can look at them and the scene freely. Flickr is a good place to see lots of sketchbooks. I don't care for the "art journaling" groups. The sketchbooks there seem to be all about achieving some sort of effect with materials. I prefer the purely mark-making sketchbooks, or the ones like these that capture an ordinary moment. 

In the Studio

Here's what I've been working on lately. That top painting I just finished and shipped off yesterday. The Chemex drawings were just added to my Etsy shop, over here. The plates are the most recent things out of the kiln. I have 2 large pots that are waiting for me to decide on glazes. My teacher, Ingrid Bathe, has been teaching me how to make glaze test tiles for standing vessels. So maybe before too long I will have the finished pots to show you. I've been enjoying using the plates for serving dinners. Just as Ingrid said, I like the work better after using it. I've also been keeping up with the daily sketchbook. I feel lots of energy and inspiration because it is the beginning of a new year. I hope your beginning is going well too!

Craig Atkinson

I could look at Craig Atkinson's sketchbooks all day long. The access he has to the intuitive is impressive. I love the freshness and humor. And the sheer volume of his work! He is a British artist and publisher. You can see more here, and here. I wish I could channel his obvious discipline!

Sketchbooks

Jeffrey DeCoster

Craig Atkinson

Vincent Griffin

Netali Ron-Raz

Laurent Moreau

Jon MacNair (?) via sweetsound/Tumblr

You know my love of sketchbooks. Here are a few found through Pinterest and Tumblr. Go over to my Pinterest board Sketchbooks & Journals, here, to see lots more. There is something about the way artists work in a sketchbook that brings out a natural, playful freedom. I always have a sketchbook handy, and it's where I really explore what is developing in my work.

My Cooking Diary

From My Cooking Diary via Cool Hunting

From My Cooking Diary via Cool Hunting

From My Cooking Diary via Cool Hunting

My Cooking Diary ( over here) is an online diary created by Sharon Hwang and Mike Matas to catalog every meal they ate on a nine day trip along the west coast from Vancouver to San Francisco. It's got great drawings and beautiful photographs. Mike Matas worked on the iPhone and then started Push Pop Press and developed the first full length interactive book for iPad using pinch-and-place navigation. The book is "Our Choice", the sequel to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". He did an amazing TED talk about the book here. Some people are just so full of good ideas and creativity it makes you take heart!

More Sketchbooks

Carol E. McMahon via Artists' Sketchbooks Online

I found a wonderful resource for looking at sketchbooks from every era and style. Artists' Sketchbooks Online can be found here. The photo above is of a book by Carol McMahon. I like the way she uses paper and subtle, refined color in her collages. 

Rob Dunlavey

I just found this artist/illustrator, and was impressed by his sketchbooks and morning routine for creating them. He gets up early each morning and does two or three paintings before everyone else in the house wakes up. I know from experience how good a commitment like this is for development. Even when I don't think anything is working in my art I know I'm keeping something alive by drawing every day. Take a look at these sketchbooks at BookByItsCover. He has a blog, and shares with us via Flickr.

Rob Dunlavey via Book By It's Cover

More Moleskine Love

This moleskine is nearing the end. I have a new sketchbook all ready and waiting....a beautiful little Rag and Bone sketchbook. I'm a little mad at them for not making the big sketchbooks anymore, but I like the little ones too. Here is an interesting moleskine to look at. And this one is pretty cool too.

Developing Ideas

I'm working on a new set of textile designs and these little shapes are coming through to me as a possibility for expansion into a couple of designs. I used them in this drawing that I reworked yesterday. All of my drawings and sketchbooks from the daily drawing project I've been working on since last January are coming in handy right now. I'm never aware of how much processing I'm doing in my drawings until I start designing or working on larger, more resolved work. Then it becomes clear to me how valuable keeping a sketchbook (or three) going at all times is to my progress.

Moleskine Love

Is there anything better than a Moleskine for drawing every day? I love the feel of the paper in the Sketchbooks. And there are lots of artist's Moleskine sketchbooks to see on YouTube. Check this one out. This is one of my favorites, and then here is the incomparable Maria Kalman. It will make you run right out to the art supply store.

Drawing Lately

I've been away at a meditation retreat in Sonoma, California. We were in silence for 9 days. I kept up my drawing project practice, and these are some of the drawings I did. Silence is a powerful practice. I think I'll be trying to have some time every month where I observe silence. I felt like my drawings became more intimate, and this pleased me.

Deeper & Deeper

Yep. Deeper and deeper in love with drawing and collaging. I love this artist because she is so obviously in love with the process of making art. Line Juhl Hansen. I was pulling out materials to start a collage and I just thought "what will come of it all?" when I looked at this pile. That is what keeps me going...finding out. It's never what I think it will be. But I always handle whatever comes up somehow, and learn something. 

New Things Happening

These are some designs for textiles that are growing out of the drawing project. They more free and open to me than what I did for the last batch of designs. I have so much to learn about this field, and am very engaged in that learning. Nature is always my inspiration. I think my interest in lichens is beginning to blossom on the page.

Playing with Soap Bubbles

Playing with soap bubbles. I spend way too much time at the kitchen sink! These are hard to photograph. So far they really look out of focus no matter how I shoot them..so I guess I have to experiment more with my camera. I'm planning to do a large drawing next, then play with some pale colors. I'm getting more and more micro pens to do what I want here.

Summer is Speeding Along

I thought I would get back to posting more about my time at Haystack, but I kept putting it off because I couldn't put that experience into words. Something happened there that is still evolving. Drawing on my ceramics showed me how deeply drawing is leading me to something new in my work. It's true what they say about going to Haystack...it ruins you for real life! I feel this hunger to draw and paint all the time......which is not my real life. But I am trying to balance things so that I stay connected to making art. Deb and Nanako opened a studio at their home in Arrowsic...Studio Pig and Fish. Deb's furniture and Nanako's jewelry and collages are currently for sale. A website is coming. And....we just ate dinner in the beautiful garden, including tomatoes from a vine Deb grew for us over the winter. Yum.

Drawing in the Garden

Today was so summery I spent hours out in the garden just drawing in sketchbooks. I think the light in these photos captures the feeling of the experience pretty well. I've started to do the drawing project daily sketches in a sketchbook, rather than only on loose sheets of drawing paper, when I feel a bit tired. I always feel more free to experiment when I am using a sketchbook. I know some people feel nervous about sketchbooks, but I feel that I can do anything in them.