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| My Chicago sketchbook |
My sketchbook from my week in Chicago is thin – only two
signatures of 16 pages each – but it’s thick with memories. As I did last year with my UK and
Manchester symposium sketchbook, I bound the symposium program right into the
sketchbook between the two signatures. On the covers are two of my favorite street scenes – the El
tracks at Wabash and Congress, and Michican Street looking out toward the pointy
blue Two Prudential Tower.
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| The symposium program is bound right into the book between the two signatures. |
While I had my bookbinding supplies out, I also stitched together
my signatures from May through the beginning of August, including our short trip to the Twin Cities. On
the covers are the walrus on the Arctic Building sketched at the beginning
of summer and the construction going on outside our Minneapolis hotel. Looking
back through the sketches as I bound the book, I have to say it’s been a great season!
If you detect a bit of wistfulness, it’s because I’ve
been seeing traces of yellow and orange in some trees just lately. At the first
signs of fall, some years I either panic or go into denial; other times I’m ready to let summer go. This year I feel mostly the latter: We had one of
the best summers on record, weather-wise, and I sketched the heck out of it. (And
now we could certainly use the rain.) Still, the outdoor-sketching season is
always shorter than I want it to be, so the waning days of summer are also bittersweet.
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| My sketchbook from May through early August |
What's all this End of Summer talk? August is only half over and we have until mid September before we put away the flip flops around here!
ReplyDeleteMy personal policy is no socks until the end of September! But I'm just looking at the trees! ;-)
Delete- Tina
Tina, could you please share the way(s) that you attached the cover drawings and ephemera to your booklet(s)? (glue, tape, wax?) Thanks, Dan :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Dan! I use acrylic medium. I first glue a bunch of random scrap paper to the tag board cover with the medium to completely cover the surface. Then I give the cover a couple more coats of medium for strength. Then I make inkjet prints of the sketches I want to use on the covers, and I glue those on. And finally I apply a couple coats of acrylic varnish to protect that. On inside pages, I use the same acrylic medium to glue in ephemera.
DeleteI like your idea of binding it with the symposium program included!
ReplyDeleteThanks -- I thought that was clever, too! :-)
DeleteReceived "Sketch Your World" by James Hobbs this morning as recommended by you. First chapter already has me inspired to get out there more. I tend to have the mindset of "I'll go there to sketch" instead of just doing it on the train or whenever. And best of all is the line about a sketchbook being for you, sketching is for laying down memories and really looking. Thanks so much for the recommendation - and the inspiration of your blog. And thank you for sharing your sketching experience.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, Jan! I'm happy to know that my blog is inspiring to you, and also that you are enjoying James' book! I've read nearly every book in the English language with the words "urban sketching" (or related) in the title, and I think James' is the best for beginners. Happy sketching!
Delete- Tina