Here, below, are some new sketchbook pages – I’m still thinking towards publishing a version of my sketchbook. I’ve been encouraged to do this by friends who’ve looked at my book, as well as by my followers on social media – thank you all!!! Now without much further typing:
Living in the Pacific Northwest I see readers at the gym, at bus stops, in parks, sitting outside on benches, in the cafes, wineries, pubs and bistros – just about everywhere I look a book is in someone’s hand. Needless to say the library is a popular place as is the beloved locally owned bookstore, Vintage Books.
Below are a few of my sketches of people I’ve seen out and about. Along with quotes and musings.
Because I’ve been depicting people reading so much in my fine art it’s probably no surprise that in my sketchbook I’ve been drawing people reading. Anyway, here’s a few more drawings from my sketchbook:
Lately, however, I’ve thought that there’s perhaps a value in showing my sketchbook pages, putting a human face, so to speak, on creative doings and beings. I’m even thinking I might gather some of these into a book. What do you think? Do you like seeing my sketches too?
Recently I blogged about my kichen sketchbook keeping method. Here’s my “running around loose” sketchbook method. Yes, this is a different sketchbook. Both books are related to my current fine artworks.
My “running around loose” – aka “loosey” book (pronounced ‘Lucy’) – is a sketchbook measuring 3.5 x 5.5 inches and half an inch thick with a ribbon bookmark, an elastic closure and lightweight watercolor paper inside. Here’s a picture of it and my gouache palette which is the same size as my book. Also pictured is my water brush and a Tombow waterproof brushpen. Everything can fit in a small bag or jacket pocket.
When I’m out in the world, with my “loosey” book, I’m keeping an eye/ear open for things that catch my attention. Things I want to think more about. There are no strict rules, no pressure to make “art” in this book. I’m just noting what catches my attention. It’s like meditation in this sense.
Recently my spouse and I had lunch at a local bistro. My attention was caught by an accent I couldn’t place when a man at a table nearby spoke to a waiter. So using my glance-memory method I kept paying attention.
My glance-memory method is this – once my attention is caught I quick glance several times and jot random words: man, scar, blue, reads, coffee, space, reads, careful spaces for book/consumables, vertical spoon, triangle space, book arms length.
The above word list translates to: After the man ordered he pulled out a book and began to read. His coffee came and he very carefully sipped his coffee well away from his book. His careful use of physical space kept my attention. Then his soup came. He shifted the book so it was held at arms length from the bowl and coffee. What an interesting gesture! I also noticed other things: a scar on his cheek, the blue shirt he wore, the vertical way he held his spoon. His gestures and sense of space held my attention. So I pulled my “loosey” book out jotted the word list mentioned above and did some quick sketches. I didn’t worry about getting an exact likeness. What I tried to capture was the gesture. I used quick glances so I wouldn’t attract his attention to what I was doing.
I tried the drawing a few times.
This second sketch, with the triangle shaped space under his elbow best captured the gesture.
I wrote the phrases on each page because they came to mind while I was drawing.
I also noted that as I drew I thought about soup, the care/repair of books, Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” and, inexplicably, Kurt Vonnegut’s book “Slaughterhouse Five”.
Where all these thoughts will go I’m not certain but I’m starting a new 18 x 24 size fine art piece for my ongoing Readers Series this week. I’m sure these sketchbook notes will get used somehow.
I’ll also make soups at home. It’s going to be cold weather. And I have well used copies of both Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” and Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” which I’ll look at over the week.
Now you know the way of my “loosey” sketchbook adventures. I’ll share what happens next in upcoming posts.
I’ve been so busy with other projects that I can’t talk about in public yet that I’ve not had time – not even 5 spare minutes – to work on my Time Tavern sketchbook. So to come up with a blog post update today I flipped through my sketchbook/commonplace book.
Crowds of characters feature prominently in one of my can’t-talk-about-it-much-yet projects – and are also part of my Time Tavern sketchbook too.  So as part of my work on these projects one afternoon, a month or so ago, I went through several of my art technique books to refresh my technical skills for drawing crowds. I wrote the various relevant pointers as well as my own thoughts in my sketchbook.
Here below is a picture of my sketchbook page.
In case you can’t read my handwriting I’ll type it here – and tweak the text I wrote by hand in my book, based on my recent experience in drawing crowds for my various projects:
Five Crowd Drawing Tips:
I finished the artwork I was working on in my last blog post! https://sueclancy.com/2017/04/06/art-of-the-onion/ and then I applied the illustration to some things… a framed print, greeting cards and other items you can find here: https://society6.com/sueclancy
About a month ago now Sweetie and I took a cooking class (www.class-cooking.com) as a “date night out”. It was fun and as usual when I do something fun I made notes in my sketchbook. Here is one of the sketchbook pages I did during cooking class with Chef Kim Mahan.
Then I got very busy with fine art commissions and etc. freelance projects – and life.
But every time I’d cut an onion when cooking supper I’d think about our class and the valuable instructions I’d gotten about onions. Since for me drawing is thinking – I ached to draw onions and the chef’s “how to chop onions” instructions so as to think about and “visualize” them. So for several weeks now when I’ve had a spare 5 or 10 minutes I’d look at my sketchbook pages and brain-storm about what I wanted to create. After a brain-storm option had been settled upon I spent my spare 5 or 10 minutes drawing and writing in pencil on a larger sheet of Bristol paper the onion art/illustration I’d brain-stormed about. Some days I only erased pencil lines that didn’t work. Other days I re-drew pencil lines. After the pencil lines were settled in my spare few moments I’d do an ink line or two…
We’re talking quick-quick drawing work on the “onion art” then I’d go on with my day-job art projects. Every day though I did something in my spare 5 to 10 minutes to inch the onion art along.
Then today I had 20 whole minutes in a row to spare! Wahoo!! And the pencil work was done and I even had a few ink lines done – so I grabbed my ink pens, watercolors and color pencils…
Here’s what I’ve done today – as it is on my work table – I’ve a bit more work to do but it’s almost finished!
Generally I try to avoid jargon but sometimes it’s necessary. Especially when you’re working with galleries, libraries and museums as I do. While I may prefer the term “visual stories” as the umbrella term for what I’m doing with all of my artwork – the term “psychogeography” and it’s alternative spelling “psycogeography” most accurately apply.
As I apply the term it means: to wander around the physical world, with a sense of wonder, making artistic notes documenting the intersection of the person of me with the place I am located. To revel in the simple pleasures of being alive. Then back in my art studio I create a work of fine art (etc.) that expresses and presents my documentation in a format intended for sharing with a wider audience.
More plainly:Â for me “psycogeography’ means that I wander around my life with my sketchbook much like people playing Pokemon Go wander around with their phones. Then I use my sketchbook as a launch pad for developing my thought-of-as-I-wandered-ideas back at my studio.
Anyway, I’ll be posting more sketchbook pages on this blog as we go along…and as described above… elements from my sketchbooks will end up as fine art, artist books or as art apparel. That’s just how I roll.  (You can find more details at www.sueclancy.com)
Sue Clancy’s sketchbook pages created in Esther Short Park, Propstra Square, Vancouver WA
People tend to think of “wealth” as things they have yet to acquire rather than things they already have. Similarly people think of “artistic inspiration” as some grand life-changing event rather than a learned-and-practiced way of looking at ordinary life.
I had an art professor in college who would talk, after class was over, of various practical aspects of the business of being a professional artist. He would say “If you can’t find artistic inspiration, something utterly fascinating to you, something you are curious about exploring using art techniques, in your own room, in your own yard, in your own life – then you won’t last long as an artist. So collect every inspiration you have, keep careful notes of what piques your interest no matter how small, protect and pursue these interests passionately, and you’ll have a life-long career as an artist.”
Here’s a fascinating pattern I found in my backyard – which I’m “keeping” for some unknown-at-this-moment future use.
A fascinating pattern I saw of small white dew “dots” on larger green clover “dots” on a darker green-brown ground.
As I mentioned in this post here the executive director came to my studio, saw the “Verry Big Project” and approved! “I love it!” the exec said. “Whew!” I said. Then we discussed installation and other nitty-gritty details. The next day I started varnishing the finished (and approved! yippeee!) artwork! The organization will do publicity regarding this public art project at the appropriate time. So for a while we’ll need to talk about something other than my Verry Big Project.
How about those sketchbooks? Have you got one? Is it a “sketchbook”, a “commonplace book” a “writer’s notebook” some combo of the above? I do a combo and jokingly call it a “Commonsketchplacebook”.
Here is a photo of my 2015 sketchbook which I just finished – and my new 2016 sketchbook (the one with the coffee beans on it).
And yes, that’s a fountain pen in the photo!
You can see some of my sketchbook pages here on my blog at www.sueclancy.com or collected in my ebooks:
“Coffee, Table, Book” https://store.bookbaby.com/book/coffee-table-book
“Dr. Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit” https://store.bookbaby.com/book/dr-bobs-emotional-repair-program-first-aid-kit
Knowing how to cook dry beans, and having a pot of formerly-dry beans ready to use in any quick-recipe, is a good thing to know when you’re a busy artist getting ready for a major art exhibit…. Here’s a page from an old sketchbook drawn some years back when, after a time of struggle, I’d finally attained The Knowledge of Beans.
