The Last Black Page

I filled the last page of my Stillman & Birn Nova sketchbook a few days ago with the 60^th hand sketch on black paper (of a total of 132 to that point). Learning to draw white on black was a thoroughly enjoyable challenge that, at first, was much harder than I expected it to be. To stay motivated, I pulled out every white and near-white drawing material in my arsenal – mostly colored pencils, but also a few grease, pastel, chalk and “white charcoal” (huh?) pencils. Like anything, it got easier over time, but it never stopped being challenging.

Nearing the end of that book, I bought a second black Nova, in case I wanted to keep going. Certainly there’s more to learn by focusing on white on black, but it’s time for a change. Those of you who follow me on social media already know what I’m up to. I’ll report back here in a few days with the change-up.

Meanwhile, Governor Inslee has clamped down on restrictions in most Washington counties as we are “on the path to runaway transmission rates of COVID-19,” according to state health officials. With restaurants and bars reopening a couple of months ago for restricted indoor service, it’s no surprise that infections are up. None of the changes makes any difference to us; we’re still behaving the same as we have since mid-March. (My brave and daring foray to Starbucks a couple of weeks ago was a momentary distraction, just to see if I could feel normal again.) Looks like I have plenty more hand sketches to do.