S K E T C H B O O K S – Part 2

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Connie Converse Album Artwork Sketch, Brooklyn, NY, Sumi Ink on Paper, 2009

More sketchbooks from the past!

What I find strange about keeping journals made up of drawings is that I can clearly remember everything about the moment that I was making each picture: Where I was, who I was with, my life circumstances and state of being at the time. It’s odd considering that without them my memories can be pretty vague . . .

Perhaps the best part about looking through my old sketchbooks was recognizing and acknowledging who I was in the past and how much I have grown as a human being. (Of course– I’m not talking about a drastic change from recent years. I’m talking about what I found in my sketchbooks from a decade ago.)

Next week I’d like to share my sketchbooks from when I lived in Thailand in 2010-2011.  I’m excited about it as I found a lot to share.

Thanks for reading!  <<<>>>  Feel free to comment!

Drawing of Cedar Mountain, Cody, Wyoming, Ink on Postcard, 2007

Portrait of Jack, Kansas City, Sumi Ink on Paper, 1999

Drawing Antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, Graphite, 2012

Lynn’s Lion, Portland, OR, Pencil on Paper, 2013

Emily Writing a Letter in a Diner, Near Big Sur, CA, Sumi Ink on Paper, 1998

Tea Plantations and Hills of Mae Salong, Doi Mae Salong, Thailand, Graphite on Paper, 2011

Portrait of Julie, Russian River, CA, Sumi Ink on paper, 1999-2000

Pocket Subway Moleskine, NYC, Ink on Paper, 2009

Self Portrait Looking at a Memory of Myself in Brooklyn, Mae Sot, Thailand, Pencil, 2011

Memory Drawing, Burmese Refugee Family Collecting Plastic, Mae Sot, Thailand, Graphite on Paper, 2011

People Drawing on the Subway, NYC, Graphite on Paper, 2012

People Drawing at Washington Square Park, New York City, Pencil on Paper, 2008

The Elegant Dog (at the Immigrant Detention Center Near Our House), Graphite on Paper, Thai-Burma Border, 2011

Mike at MOMA, New York City, Graphite on Paper, 2006

Little Nova, Portland, OR, Pencil on Paper, 2012

In the Wilderness with Ghosts (Preliminary for Doc’s Painting), Portland, OR, 2005

Thanks for reading!  <<<>>>  Feel free to comment!

Hitchhiker, Stowaway, Drunk – The Sketchbooks That Time Forgot – Part 1

Portrait of Mike, Vermont and Kristen, Kansas City, Sumi Ink on Paper, 1999

Headstrong, emotional, and spirited are three words that could easily have described me in my youth. But they are probably just a kinder way of saying naive, intense, and unpredictable.

A far cry from my life now which is deliberately healthy and calm I was a bit of a wild child who loved nothing more than to travel and create mischief. I drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney, weaseled my way in and out of dangerous (sketchy?) situations, and it’s all documented in drawings and words in 18 years worth of sketchbooks.

Portrait of Aidan Healing After the Accident, Charcoal, Colored Pencil and Gouache, 2006

I spent the weekend looking through these books and found so many hilarious and truly weird images. I’ve chosen to share a handful of drawings that I found interesting– of old friends drawn from life, loose sketches of my surroundings during my travels, and a few simple drawings that I just happen to like.

People Drawing in my Pocket Subway Moleskine, New York City, Ink on Paper, 2009

These sketchbooks chronicle my life from Ithaca, Kansas City, Portland, Brooklyn, traveling in California and all over the US, Europe, and a seedy town on the Thai-Burma border.

Emily Before and After the Haircut, Bighorn, WY and Portland, OR, Sumi Ink on Paper, 1998

Page from the Golden Comet, a collaborative sketchbook of Mike Schultz and Jack Baumgartner, 2001-2007

Portrait of Sy, Sumi Ink on Paper, Russian River, CA,1999

When I was young I hitchhiked across the United States. I lived in secret for a year in a decrepit mansion at the Kansas City Art Institute where I slept in a wooden box dubbed by friends as “the coffin”. I was once yelled at by Allen Ginsberg. (Is it embarrassing to be yelled at by a hero? Umm, yes. Yes it is.) It’s all in these books for better or for worse . . .

Portrait of Jack Baumgartner Singing in a Russian Fur Hat, Kansas City, MO, 1999

Hare, Mae Sot, Thailand, Pencil on Paper, 2011

Greg’s Death Painting, Xerox Copy of an Oil Painting, 2000-2001

Memory Drawings, Mae Sot, Thailand, Graphite on Paper, 2011

The Modern Daughter of Babylon, Pocket Subway Moleskine, Express Train NYC to DC, 2009

Drawing at the Met, New York City, Pencil on Paper, 2008

View from Our House (The Yellow House), Mae Sot, Thailand, Graphite on Paper, 2011

A Jacob’s Ladder for Lester Goldman on the Occasion of his Death, Portland, OR, Graphite and Coffee on Paper, 2005

Thanks to Jack Baumgartner and Janine Shroff for the inspiration to make this post. Both of them have been posting past sketchbook work of theirs and it seemed like a fun and curious exercise. Curious perhaps, but choosing which drawings to share out of a small mountain of sketchbooks was so difficult!

Thanks for reading and please comment if you wish!  <<<>>>

Preliminary Pencil Drawing – Exodus

Exodus (detail), Graphite on Paper, 10.5 x 12″ (26.5 x 30.5 cm), 2013

Ahhhh, we had one day of blissful sunny weather with blue skies and Spring air– followed by another usual overcast day with a sky that looks like a flat florescent light bulb. Damn you, Portland, Oregon. The winter here is the trade for living in such a beautiful and bike friendly city.  For anyone who needs a winter lift I recommend this: Brooklyn, NY PS22 children’s chorus singing Lisztomania by Phoenix.

This week I’d like to share a preliminary pencil drawing that I have been working on for a double painting called Exodus. Double painting meaning I plan on painting two works at once back and forth so I can try out different techniques and colors on each canvas.  This is a narrative theme, image, and character that I have been making variations of for years.

Exodus, Graphite on Paper, 10.5 x 12″ (26.5 x 30.5 cm), 2013

Above is the full drawing.  I used Photohsop along with my actual drawing to reassess the composition.  Photoshop is a great way to try out radically different things to get a sense of what will and will not work.  Pictured below, you can see me  re-designing the clouds before drawing them into the final composition.  This also led to me adding a strip of paper to the top of the image to give the figure more breathing room.

Using Photoshop and a Wacom drawing tablet to experiment with the composition.

Lately I have also been playing around with different chops (a traditional artist stamp/seal that signs a work).  Eventually I would love to carve one out of jade or soapstone. Below is the first draft of the chop on my recent work.  I liked it, but it was too visually distracting for this particular drawing and so I reduced it to just the hare.

Duck and hare chop pre-edit. Fun? Sure, but too busy for this one.

The final hare chop (sans duck and vines) used for the Exodus drawing.

Sun starved artist lays on floor to soak up vitamin D while drawing.

Local cat Scratch chilling in the window enjoying freak February Spring weather.

Thank you for reading!  Please feel welcome to comment.  <<<>>>