I am always inspired by artists working in sketchbooks, so it was a treat to attend a talk by a master of the form. At the Ridgefield, CT Library, the artist James Lancel McElhinney spoke on “Painted Books: From the Age of Exploration to the Digital Era.” McElhinney traced the history of art created on … Continue reading James Lancel McElhinney on Painted Books
Unfortunately this exhibition of artists’ sketchbooks is long over, but it ran earlier this year at the Western Wyoming Community College Art Gallery in Rock Springs. It looks like it was a lovely display! The pages below are by Leah Hardy: Below are sketches by Florence Alfano McEwin, who was also the curator of the … Continue reading Wyoming Artists’ Sketchbooks
A beautiful and colorful page from a notebook by artist Phillip March Jones. I love the idea of taking old pages of scribbly notes and turning them into vibrant works of abstract art. The artist, writer and curator Phillip March Jones almost always carries a notebook — a small Moleskine affair, just the right size to … Continue reading Phillip March Jones’s “Workbooks”
Nice to see an urban sketcher documenting life at the University of Washington. Eli Pasco has a regular feature on the campus newspaper’s website: I have been urban sketching for almost two years now, and have grown both as a person and an artist. I have developed my style, perfected my technique, and exposed myself … Continue reading The Campus Sketcher
Here’s something to add to my wish list! A $200 limited edition set of facsimile sketchbooks by Françoise Gilot. I highly recommend her book Life with Picasso — it’s a fascinating look not just at Picasso and his work but at Gilot’s own life and thoughts about art. Françoise Gilot, now 96, is best known for … Continue reading Françoise Gilot’s Travel Sketches
This week’s addict emailed me LOTS of photos of his HUGE stash of notebooks. He has at least 60 filled notebooks and a ton of spares. Check out this inventory: Black and Red med sc 16 Black and Red med bc 1 ARC disc sm 1 ARC disc med leather 16 ARC disc std cover … Continue reading Notebook Addict of the Week: Bob
The website of the National Gallery of Art has a nice feature about a Cézanne sketchbook. He kept many sketchbooks, but most of them were taken apart and sold to collectors as individual drawings. The National Gallery has one of the only intact sketchbooks. In conjunction with the exhibition Cézanne Portraits (March 25–July 1, 2018) this … Continue reading Cézanne’s Sketchbook
A great piece at My Modern Met about an expat artist and his sketchbooks: Berlin-based English urban sketching artist Keir Edmonds keeps a visual diary that illustrates his life as an expat in Germany’s capital. Believing that “you have to put in 10,000 hours to get really good at something,†the self-confessed “Englishman lost in … Continue reading Keir Edmonds’ Berlin Sketchbooks
Some lovely urban sketching, in NYC’s Tribeca neighborhood and beyond. I will have to keep an eye out for this guy, as I’ve sketched from some of his spots myself! Gavin Snider loves to draw, as you can see from the work he posts on Instagram and Twitter. Of local note: A series of drawings … Continue reading Gavin Snider’s Sketchbooks
I’ve been seeing images of José Naranja‘s notebook pages on Pinterest for quite a while, but it is only since joining Instagram that I discovered the full depth of his amazing work. His notebook pages are incredibly detailed, with writing, drawing, and collage elements– it’s the kind of notebook art where you really wish you … Continue reading An Interview with José Naranja, Creator of The Orange Manuscript