door to the river

When I made that humongous Moleskine post last week it took me back to France, to when I exhibited my Moleskines. Obviously I've been showing my sketch books online for the last few years. But before the exhibition in France few people had ever seen them 'in the flesh'. And, at first, I was quite reticent to show them. Specifically my 'spare' Moleskine. I had never ever shown anyone this book before. You might have seen a few of the finished drawings from it but that's it. The reason for that is because, apart from those odd finished pieces, my spare Moleskine is full of lists, quotes, lyrics, doodles and thoughts. And that's quite scary. I've always felt that peering into that book is a bit like finding John Nash's shed in the woods and opening the door.

But, to my surprise, many people at the exhibition really enjoyed seeing these pages. Yes, they commented on the obsessive content but it struck a chord somewhere with folk. So, I thought maybe I'd show you some here. The top spread is one of those pages. It's where I chuck everything onto a page for future reference. Then below are some of the drawings that came from those seeds.

Is this stuff of any interest to you? Cos there's loads more of it.

You know, there could well be a lot of posts this week because somebody is desperately trying to avoid doing their tax returns. So let me know if you want to see more.

the story is still unfolding

So, I did think that the last post was the penultimate stage in the life of this drawing, but I still haven't quite finished. I know it probably looks like it was overdone about three posts ago, but this drawing keeps on going. It's the drawing that just keeps on giving. So if you haven't lost the will to live, and would like to see the finished thing, then come ye back.

push it along

I'm not even sure if you can actually see the difference between this and the last post. It may be subtle, but this is the point where I have to stop the cross hatching. It's the point where I need to start putting the detail in. And, it's the point where I'm starting to think that this is a rubbish drawing and that I shouldn't have done this step by step thingy because now I have to post the final drawing whether I like it or not.

where'er you go

Still not quite sure where the pen is taking me but that's alright. It's really alright.

you made up my mind for me

I hadn't planned to do this work in progress thingy, but there's a time and place for everything. And this is one of those times. I guess that these many layered drawings are just right for showing that step by step process. And, of course, it means I get lots of posts out of the one drawing. Just what you need when you're going through a dry spell. So, you see, my mind was made up for me. So easily.