little black journal

Liking collage.  And paint.  Mixed media fun…

blue (2009.05.04):

village (2009.05.08):

skyline (2009.05.09):

country (2009.05.10):

damask geese (2009.05.12):

Still loving my watercolor Moleskine.  And I found my old Spirograph in a box of old toys that my parents dug out of their garage, so you’ll see a couple of little geometric doodles floating around the pages.  Such a simple but brilliant little gadget!

bridge (2009.03.11):

sine waves (2009.03.15):

lemon drops – an idea borrowed from my food series (2009.03.17):

Trying new things, some of them working, some of them not…  Nonetheless, it feels good just to be making stuff.

migliore (2009.02.04):

west elm (2009.02.11):

bulb (2009.02.22):

And I recently purchased my first watercolor Moleskine journal.  The paper gives me a lot more flexibility to play with different types of paint (my standard sketchbook won’t take anything besides ink or pencil), and the landscape format is bringing out some new ideas.

wilted (2009.02.23):

light/dark (2009.03.01):

As always,  haven’t been putting pencil to paper lately nearly as much as I’d like to, but I have managed to crank out a few little sketches.  I’ve always wanted to be able to draw the human face and figure well, and so that’s been a theme in my sketchbook lately.  I’m also into playing around with different media and still really love collage.  My watercolor pencil is fun, too (although this moleskine is terrible for watercolor…).  Anyhow, this is what’s been rolling around in this scattered old head of mine:

woman sitting – from how to draw the head and figure (2009.01.08):

face studies – from how to draw the head and figure (2009.01.11):

waterfall – collage from magazine clippings (2009.01.25):

bud (2009.01.27):

drippage – media exploration (2009.01.29):

man from toulouse-lautrec’s alfred la guine (2009.02.02):

I filled up the last page of my sketchbook/journal the other day and am looking forward to cracking open another fresh, new Moleskine notebook.  I have been using these same journals for over five years now and get such a sense of accomplishment from seeing them all lined up on our bookshelf, knowing that between the simple, black, nondescript covers lie words, drawings, and mementos that detail some of my most precious memories and ideas.  I became attached to my first Moleskine when I was living in Paris – I never left my apartment without my sketchbook in hand.  I spent hours sitting in cafes, jotting down verbal and graphic impressions of all the new places I was seeing.  I reread some of my entries and can almost put myself back on that sidewalk terrace, with pencil in hand and that tiny cup of espresso in front of me.  That journal was my constant traveling companion.  When I returned to the States in 2004, my sketchbook became a place for me to compose and chronicle my thoughts and ideas on my thesis project.  Upon graduation from college and soon-after engagement to Shane in 2005, my journal took on the form of a wedding planner, filled with to-do lists and doodles of invitation ideas.  In 2006-2007, I journaled and sketched much less frequently as I settled into the routine of my job and my marriage.  There is a random entry here and there about a book I read or a gallery opening I attended, but for the most part, entries are sparse.  In 2008, as noted here, I began my weekly sketch initiative.  This has been an excellent incentive for me to regularly, creatively put pen to paper.  My weekly sketches thus far have the taken the form of a lot of abstract graphic doodling, which is fine, but my hope for next year is that I do more real-life drawing of actual objects and places.  So, cheers to a fresh, new palette and to lots of journal-worthy, sketch-inspiring experiences in 2009!

Liking collage lately.  Trying out multiple media.  Having fun.

poang chair (11.02.2008):

flower and stems  (11.09.2008):

parked  bike (11.30.2008):

vase over photo transfer (12.04.2008):

branches (12.08.2008):

hands in pockets (12.11.2008):

Liking color these days.  And the use of tightly spaced lines to create texture.  I’ve also been playing around with stitching on paper, kind of “drawing” with a needle and thread.  Lots of ideas floating around in this head of mine, though it seems I never have all the time I’d like to flush them out on paper…  And it seems I can’t ever quite match the physical drawing to the image in my head.  Got to keep thinking of this sketchbook as a work-in-progress.

view through the trees (10.05.2008):

happyland (10.13.2008):

blue and yellow make green (10.28.2008):

I’ve fallen a little behind with my “weekly” sketches (studying for my test side-tracked me for a couple of weeks), but I’m determined to catch up.  With this gray weather we’re having, I’m hoping to find a cozy place to curl up with my sketchbook this weekend to do some doodling.  I’ve been playing around with different media lately, but I’ve found that I’m still a big fan of a plain old ink pen.

country road  (09.01.2008):

woman with flowers (09.26.2008):

dancing shoes (10.03.2008):

top pot stairs (08.08.08):

whirly landscape (08.14.08):

spindly forest (08.20.08):

word trees (08.31.08):

I’ve fallen a little behind on my “weekly” sketches, but I’ve managed to squeeze out a couple of doodles lately.  Really liking drawing with ink, after so many years of drawing only in pencil.

woman accidentally resembling cleopatra… (07.23.08):

windy day (08.04.2008):