Sketchbook Project: Done



11/5/12, 11/23/12 fountain pen

Last month I reported that I had filled my Sketchbook Project sketchbook, but so much white space was left on many of the pages that I felt compelled to continue sketching. I still have time before the Jan. 15, 2013, deadline, but most pages are now crowded with “strangers” (my chosen theme), so it’s time to call it done.

 

What have I learned from participating?

 

As I noted in my first blog post about the project, I knew before I began that it was going to be important for me to think of the project sketchbook casually, as nothing special, almost as a throwaway to avoid being intimidated. (Indeed, the paper in the book is so thin and crappy that I often did feel like throwing it away!) Instead of trying to put only my “best” sketches in this sketchbook (a most certain way to keep the book empty), I often used it for my warm-up sketch – the first one of the day, just to get the ink and right side of the brain flowing. My what-the-heck attitude kept me from stalling and kept the sketches fresh.

9/12/12, 12/10/12 fountain pen, marker

 

Once I decided to fill in the blank spaces with more sketches, I discovered that an interesting dialog sometimes developed between some strangers on the page without my conscious direction. The man sketched in blue ink on Dec. 10 looks like he’s having a conversation with himself, sketched with a brown marker on Sept. 12.

 

Several years ago when I had first heard about the project, I shuddered at the thought of putting my drawings out into the world. That’s what kept me from participating. But in the past year since I began sketching, I’ve come to realize that the sketch on the page isn’t nearly as important as the process that put it there. And now that I’ve been blogging almost a year and posting my sketches regularly, I’ve discovered that sharing my sketches is a large part of the joy of sketching. I am happy to share this little book of sketches with whoever wants to see it. And now that I’ve scanned all the pages, I’m going to put the sketchbook in an envelope and send it on its way.

 

Learn more about the Sketchbook Project on its website. See all 17 page spreads in my Sketchbook Project sketchbook in a Flickr slideshow, or view the images one at a time in my Flickr photostream.