Another Process Post

I have been wanting to this blog for awhile but it required me to remember that the idea existed while I was working on a finished drawing. I am generally not thinking about blogging while I'm working on a finished piece, so about two weeks after I meant to write this, I finally got around to it. This blog is another process post, but this time it is about my finished drawing process and not about the idea process.

In fact, as I write this, I realize that this blog doesn't actually require many words. I can't explain any more than the pictures actually show. All I will say is that if you are someone who thinks that artwork is some sort of magical process then probably you shouldn't look. It's a bit like showing step by step how a magic trick is done.

Poof! That's how I pull a finished drawing out of my hat!

The Sketch Book Blog

I finally reached the end of my beautiful little red moleskine sketch book. It’s a proud and a bit of a sad moment for me. I began it in July of 2009. That doesn’t really seem so long ago, less than two years, but so much has happened since then that it almost seems as if I’m letting go of something that transitioned me to a whole new life.

I’ve always had a very bad habit of starting a sketchbook at a moment when I was feeling artistically dedicated, filling out a few pages, and then putting it aside. When I would pick it  up a year later I would need a new one, who wants to start their new found dedication with a reminder of a past failing? I have a box full of sketchbooks and journals to prove that I have this habit.


This is the very first sketchbook that I’ve ever filled up. Ever. I started it when I first began to do Last Thursdays and when I was still doing wood burnings (it has the burn mark to prove it). In it’s pages are drawings of creatures and gifts that will never be, sketches for drawings that began entire series, poems, comics, photos, and notes. It has seen me slowly become more dedicated, braver, and more imaginative. It has seen me through the beginnings of a relationship and into a marriage.

I have put it down for months at a time but always picked it back up. This little red sketchbook feels as if it was there as I transitioned to being a true adult. I’m so proud to have it all filled that I don’t want to put it down. Where will I put it? Somewhere so safe that it will always be available and never be damaged.

Now, I have started a new sketch book. A task that suddenly seems a little bit daunting and a little bit more important than one would think. I wonder what this new sketch book will see me through.  The only way to know is to start at the beginning, and watch as I tell the next chapter of my own story.