Sketchbook_Confidential

I particularly enjoy sketching when I am traveling and on vacations. Being able to record my experiences in drawings helps me to enjoy the excursions all the more, and looking for opportunities to frame some visual experience into an image lets me appreciate things visually that I might otherwise overlook.

Sketching lets me appreciate hidden beauty in the world and sharpens my observational skills. Anything that I see can be inspiration for a sketch, and so whenever something interesting catches my eye, if I don't have pencil and paper handy, my mind is making a mental photograph. I remember the lines and curves and colors; the way light comes streaming through some leaves; the curve of an egret's neck contrasting with its angular stilt legs as it stalks through the rushes of nearby Lake Merritt; the flourish and motion of a dancer's arms as I watch a rehearsal for a show.

Occasionally the sketches that I do in my journal make their way into becoming finished paintings, though this is more rare. I don't sketch them with a painting in mind. They're more of just momentary snapshots, but sometimes they end up being my favorite

finished paintings of all.

When journal-sketching I like to work with pen and ink, as it forces me to commit to the lines and each mark that I make so that they all have meaning, rather than aimless scratching.

I sketch mainly to work out my ideas on paper before I begin a new painting. This helps me to see how the work will flow. I make decisions on format, size and so on. My sketches usually tell me if a painting is going to work or not before committing myself to the time and effort of a painting.

Once a week, I go to a life drawing session at my local art center. We draw several two-minute and five-minute quick sketches. This is a wonderful way to warm up and learn what is really important to get a thought across. It also keeps my drawing skills sharp. Trips to the mountains and vacations are other opportunities I take to draw. I'll draw the people waiting in terminals or at cafés or chipmunks sunning themselves on rocks.

I sketch with both soft pencils and charcoal. I like Strathmore sketchbooks. After working up some thumbnail sketches in a book, I might use a large sheet of newsprint and vine charcoal and do a work-up the size of my finished painting.

When I am sketching for a finished piece, I think about what I want to say with the painting, what dimensions might work, how the light will travel and what compositional design will work best. I get involved in the subject deeply by concentrating on angles, lines, and shapes. When I am sketching for fun, I let my mind wander. It is quite therapeutic.

Sketching is relaxing and freeing for me. I am a perfectionist, but my sketchbook doesn't have to be. I know in my mind that these don't have to say anything in particular. I just sketch with no worries about the outcome. It is kind of like writing in a diary. My sketchbooks aren't something I generally share with the world so I don't put pressure on myself with them. They are for fun.

My sketches mirror my life: sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. Going out for a day and sketching what I see has taught me that every created thing is beautiful — a work of art. Every person is beautiful. You can find beauty in the everyday mundane as well as the exotic. Art is anything that enriches our lives.