Sketchbook

(2004 - 2020)

Spending most of your time sketching with pencil and then working with paint doesn't offer a lot of lessons on permanence and absolution. Even with computer work the concept of permanence was manufactured by freezing state periodically. In order to work on permanence I decided to carry a sketchbook for ink renderings only. Spending hours on or waiting for a bus, waiting on customers or after prep at a kitchen, or really any available time is used to render a unique and permanent concept.

If you find yourself with time, do yourself a favor and look up any Van Gogh work done with a reed pen, quill, and ink. If I ever do have time to research technique, it would just be looking through his sketchbooks. Another thing I found myself doing is destroying or marking points of emphasis. Taking a portion of the work that is integral to the continuity and putting a big box or mark over it. It's cathartic and permanent. Something that can be hard to find in modern editable temporary times.

The subject matter varies. Trying to find a a mapping between personal subjectivity and objectively accurate representation. I'm not holding onto objectivity, but the nature of the medium forces your hand to decide. It could be a smiling face I saw walking to work. It could be something from my childhood that echos into my adulthood. It could simply be a reaction to a line that is visually appealing. The story unfolds with every shape and mark I put down. Some of these renderings are living breathing ideas and stories full of drama and life that I could explore for hours... but the bus is here.