Sketchbook Interiors...and Glorious Rainstorms

The messy drawing studio...
text pgs: Ingres lightweight

covered with grass green book cloth and amate bark paper for the spine as well as screen-printed bits and pieces for fun

photos from a really old sack of lentils....
Anais Nin quotes and an old etching proof.
It is so peculiar how most of the best things could never be planned for. Today - iced coffee on the porch during a rainstorm...perfect.

It has been raining on and off for then entire week here (in rural PA), but it is the lovely sort of rain-warm and breezy and everything smells so wonderful when the drops stop falling. Plus, this has been a very productive week for drawing, so no complaints here!

In other news, I have been wanting to do a feature on this blog for a while about some of the books/journals/sketchbooks that I have made in the past...how are they holding up? Are they filled? How have they been used and by whom? I am afterall most interested in making functional items. I love gorgeous old bindings and really intricate detail work, but in the long-run I am always more satisfied when I give someone a journal that they will actually use, even if it happens to be a simple leather notebook.

That being said, I decided to begin the feature with a book that I have carried around for the past year. I created it as a sketchbook...filling it with an earthy toned lightweight Ingres paper, which I have always loved to draw on....though I must admit it has been used as more of a storage location for my racing thoughts and inspirations (photos, exhibit cards, quotes, etc.) that I want to remember.

Take a look, and let me know what you think...and please send any images and/or notes about the tangible press journals that you have been filling my way to be featured!