Sketchbook_Confidential

Sketching doesn't come from inspiration; it comes from need. I have a short time to work, or I may forget my idea or colors I've seen. Then, I sketch using anything handy to capture that moment in nature or in my mind visually, so when I have time, I'll use this idea in some future work or keep it as a reminder of what once struck me in reality or in the dream.

I sketch as much as I need to, so sometimes it is a lot in a day, until the idea is clear in my mind and on the paper or canvas. Sometimes I start the sketch on canvas and develop it into a finished work, because everything seems pretty clear from the beginning, and it turns into a completed work.

Any materials can be used for sketching: watercolor while on the go, pencil on a scrap of paper anywhere, including on an airplane. Or oil, when it is necessary (for example, when trying to show all the incredible colors of fresh fish) in the studio, or on location in a planned plein air, which happens at least twice a year in different areas for me, mostly in Maine and New Mexico.

There is a pattern of thought involving how I create a composition, how I define my focal point, what will be my pattern of dark and light, what will better describe my idea or give certain movement. If it is a color sketch, it either describes the mood or intricate harmony of the scene or object, which neither photography nor memory could preserve.

Sketching gives me a chance to think more abstractly, free of reality as it is, and more in general, without going into details. It also breaks stereotypes on things that I thought I knew.

While sketching, I am concentrating, trying to find the visual answer to what is in front

of me or in my mind. I am generating an idea, which is the most distinct moment of human ability. So, I am under some pressure, which is challenging but exciting. The more clear the idea is in my mind, the more fun it is to paint, and the chances are higher that I'll get results without frustration.

Sketching gives me a chance to think more abstractly, free of reality as it is, and more in general, without going into details. It also breaks stereotypes on things that I thought I knew. Plein air paintings “clean” my palette (less muddy or primitive open colors are used), give me a fresher look on big relationships (such as land and sky), and help me find the pattern and harmony, which I can't imagine or make up.

Sketching provides freedom of thinking and expressing thoughts, an easy way of changing direction or switching to new decisions, and ways of solving the problems. In finished paintings, that freshness, bravery and spontaneity can vanish.

If you have enough patience to work on a sketch until everything is clear in your mind and on your paper, board or canvas, then your completed work should just be a defined, enriched version of your sketch. Does this happen often? No, not really, because artwork lives its own life, and sometimes you need to follow what is on the canvas. Does it always get to the result you expect? No, but that's what makes an artist create and recreate, trying to describe the visual image clear and complex enough, and the first step in that process is sketching.

Joshua Tobey

Tobey's appreciation for art and the outdoors took root during his upbringing in New Mexico with renowned bronze sculptors Gene and Rebecca Tobey. Though he began attending Western State College in Colorado without the intention of becoming an artist, he emerged with a bachelor's degree in sculpture and gratitude for the family who supported but never pushed. Tobey's bronze wildlife sculptures can be found in numerous galleries and collections. Of his sculpting style, he once told SOUTHWEST ART magazine, who in 2002 named him one of their “31 under 21” artists to watch, “I use bright, contemporary patinas but a classical approach to form, with a little stylization.”