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9/17/24 Macrina Bakery, Queen Anne neighborhood |
Instead of feeling like a chore as it occasionally has in the past, my sketch journal process has become fun and engaging, mainly due to subject matter: my downsizing project. I enjoy documenting meaningful objects and key events, including my little celebrations of accomplishments.
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10/4/24 Caffe Ladro, Roosevelt neighborhood |
A critical part of making my sketch journal process possible
is sometimes using photo references, even for simple objects that are easily accessible
for drawing from life – and that’s a huge change of attitude for me. Long-time
readers of this blog know that I have always been so focused on drawing from
life that switching to photo references has sometimes been a challenge. I still
strongly prefer drawing from life, but in this case, I don’t want anything to
interrupt my unjunking process. I’m like the proverbial shark: Once I start
clearing an area, I need to keep moving.
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10/9/24 Green Lake Starbucks (Sometimes my sketch journal is just about ordinary life.) |
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10/10/24 Mr. West, U Village |
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10/16/24 photo reference |
The mini vac on Oct. 16 is a good example. When that long-missing item finally came to light, I knew I wanted to document it, but I did not want to set aside the vacuum cleaner until I sketched it. It was easy to snap a photo in the moment, then move on (the vac had been replaced long ago, so I gave it away).
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10/17/24 The "We Take Junk" team, who came to my house a total of 4 times. (Photo reference) |
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10/19/24 When Chris installed my hardwood floors several weeks ago, he spotted the table saw in the basement. I told him I was getting rid of it, and his eyes lit up. I was very happy to know it was going to a good home. (Photo reference) |
I’ve also been snapping quick photos of people that I want to include in my documentation. Obviously, I don’t want to get in the way of workers, and often I’m too busy myself helping with the work. I know it must sound so obvious to people who have always been comfortable drawing from photos, but for me, it’s a liberating and novel experience not to draw everything as it is happening. |
10/21/24 Santo Coffee, Roosevelt neighborhood (a reward for the previous week's unjunking efforts) |
The spread shown below was a spontaneous page design
experiment. When I made the sketch of the voting box, my intention was to use
the rest of the spread to document something else that happened that day, but I
forgot and never finished the spread. The next day, I wanted to document the celebratory
doughnuts I had gotten for my junk-removal crew (after four visits, each
lasting several hours, you get to be good friends with the people hauling all
your junk out). Although I typically would not put two days on a spread, especially
crossing the gutter this way, it suddenly occurred to me: Why not? I do it all
the time when all the sketches are occurring on the same day – what difference
does it make if the sketches occur the next day?
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10/23/24 and 10/24/24 |
I like to think of myself as a creative person, but sometimes the most obvious things take a long time to occur to me! Anyway, I like the way the composition of the spread came out, and I’m going to push myself to think outside the boundaries of the single page more often. I always enjoy the challenge of making images fit together on a small page – especially since I never know what the next sketch will be.
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