the silence of a falling star and other juicy quotes

Day Four of the post three drawings for five days challenge. Yes, it's taking longer than five days. Way longer.

Today, I chose these three drawings because they are all linked. Obviously, they are, but I thought I'd expand on how they are linked. And, how I work sometimes. So yes, of course, I've worked with the same palette here. Incidentally, blues and browns are my favourite colour combination. I just think they work so beautifully together. They also work great with the cream Moleskine paper which is the sketchbook I worked in here.

I often have a few sketchbooks on the go. Quite a few in fact. A lot are Moleskine, but not all. These days I'll draw on anything and everything. The top page is from what I call a 'spare sketchbook'. It's the kind of book that doesn't have a specific theme, it's just somewhere where I dump all of my thoughts, play around with images and compositions, practice my handwriting, file all those lovely juicy quotes and lyrics - that I happen upon - for future reference and make lists. Lots of lists. I love these kind of books. Everyone should have this sort of sketchbook. I can guarantee if I look through this book (this one is about seven years old now) I am reminded of and inspired by all sorts of things I'd forgotten.

At one time, when I was going through a drawing funk (they don't happen anymore by the way) and whining about it on my blog I was offered a piece of advice that I've never forgotten. I remember who gave me the advice too. It was Felicity Graces who some of you may know - although she doesn't draw, or at least, post her drawings anywhere near enough these days. Anyway, where as other people had been telling me to look through the work of my favourite artists or contemporaries, Felicity said definitely do not do that but look back through my own back catalogue of work. It was good advice. That's where you reconnect with what you love to do and the things you love to draw and why you love to draw.

So, that's why I recommend having a 'spare sketchbook'. You'll find so much in there too relight your fire. And, so to these drawings. Both of the two (bottom) drawings came about from developing themes I played around with in the top spread. By taking the notes and ideas and pushing and pulling them in all directions.

And, another thing, the envelope spread is what can happen when something goes wrong on a page; collage. The best way to cover all of your mistakes.

dig my earth

So above is another one of those 'idea' spreads from my spare Moleskine. A couple of pages where I planted the seeds of future drawings. The left hand page soon grew into this drawing, below.

And, then later sprouted into this drawing:

The right hand page of the sketchbook, at the top of this post, hasn't actually grown into anything. Yet. But, it's all still there for future reference. And, that's another good thing about getting this stuff down in a sketchbook or notebook; I find it's the best place to turn when one might be going through a bit of a drawing funk. Cos if these ideas interested you enough to write them down in the first place, you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll still be inspiring at a later date. They are just all patiently waiting, below the ground, to blossom into a beautiful flower. Or a firm, young carrot.

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.

you are the only thing

I thought I'd take a moment to bang on about the Moleskine sketchbook. Actually why stop there? I might as well take this opportunity to bang on about the Moleskine in general; sketchbook, notebook, diary, etc.

Obviously, there hasn't been too much in the way of drawing getting done, around here, recently as I've been going doodlealley trying to finish off hand decorating these million and one envelopes. And, talking of envelopes (it seems to be the only subject of conversation I have these days) while I was out the other day, desperately trying to source more, I popped into my favourite shop and only local Moleskine seller in the area.

I was going to treat myself to a new Moleskine sketchbook and diary. Perusing the lovely shelves of Moleskines it struck me that it really is the perfect product. It's a product that is so beautifully designed (like a Clark's desert boot, the Eames chair or a Swiss Army knife) that it doesn't need advertising as the customer does all the advertising. Just like I am. Here. Now.

Anyway, I was most disappointed to find that the shop didn't have any Moleskine diaries left. That's what you get for buying a diary on January the 12th. How would I live without my page-a-day diary? Not only do I fill my diaries full of all the extremely important dates for all the extremely important things I'm going to do (don't laugh) but I also fill them with stuff like this;

But, mainly I fill them with stuff like this; lists, references, lists, quotes, lists, lyrics and more lists. This one I made whilst watching the History Boys. I loved the big pin board they had at the back of the classroom (I will have one of those myself one day) that was filled with portraits of icons and idols. I listed some of the people I could spot of the board in the film and added some of my own. For future reference.

I also use my diary to plan drawings and blog posts (NO, don't laugh. I actually plan this stuff). And how would I possibly do without the detachable address book that fits so perfectly into the back pocket of the diary? One less thing for me to doodle on.

Anyway, after perhaps an hour of deliberation (can I do without a page-a-day diary? am I really a weekly planner type of gal?) I settled for the planner. I'm sure I will come to terms with it.

Then I had to choose a new sketchbook. Damn I love new sketchbooks more than I can say (I live alone). That anticipation of the clean pages. That inner cover waiting. Just waiting. What will it look like in a years time? Which direction will it take? I love that space.

Will it be another place to through down ideas like my 'spare' Moleskine, above? A place to work through all those lists and pull a drawing out of the hat? Or will it take on a colour theme like the Sepia one? Still the only Moleskine I've ever completed from inner cover to back pocket.

Or perhaps it'll become the second volume of my travel Moleskine. I'm so close to finishing the first volume. There's definitely a possibility of that. I loved this theme and am not quite done with it yet. Although of course it could be something completely different. I quite like the idea of combining my love of food and drawing and making a kind of foodie-skine. Who knows?

One thing it won't become is a ballpoint Moley. For me, these two mediums didn't quite go together. I don't know why. It's just a personal thing. So the ballpoint Moley that I started, below, doesn't actually exist anymore. I pulled it to pieces.

Anyway, sometimes you need one that is no longer in sketch book form, cos sometimes you need the paper for those little odds and sods that you might want to draw that are not part of any theme.

And, one thing is for sure, to celebrate my love for the Moleskine this year will see more of my little Molezines. I already know the theme for the next one of those. I've been obsessing over that for the last couple of months.

Finally, they threw me out of the shop. I purchased my new books and went. Dreaming of all the possibilities. All the possibilities that a new book and a new year can bring.

i know that's who you are

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to be posting this as my Christmas drawing. No, siree. I was trying out some more of those upside down portraits. This motley crew were copied from the newspaper and my dvd collection.

As you can see, at the beginning of this exercise I kept getting confused and getting the book the wrong way up. I absolutely LOVE this exercise, though. Not only are you drawing but you have a real good laugh, too. What can be better than that?

They are all, unbelievably, celebrities. I'd LOVE to hear if you think you might be able to name some. There are the obvious ones; Swelling (as I used to think she was called) Ewing, Boris Johnson (was that obvious, I don't know?). And, then there are some...well...if you could name them, not only would I eat my hat I'd give you my...er...car?

Happy Happy Christmas, one and all.

(Disclaimer: I will NOT really give you my car)

all i wanna do

The Travel Moleskine

Click HERE to see my Travel Moleskine, so far.

I thought I'd condense this travel themed Moleskine down to one post, so that it's not dominating the main page of my blog. Instead of cutting it down, however, I've just ended up doing a big huge Moley post. But, what's wrong with a bit of Moleskine love between consenting adults, eh?

The most frequently asked question from visitors to my blog, who are not part of the drawing community, is what is a Moleskine? Well, Moleskines are sketchbooks. Great ones! I think the mark of a really great product is when you don't have to advertise, your customers do the advertising for you. HERE is a link to my first ever Moleskine post, from my first ever Moleskine. I was smitten straight away.

The Ballpoint Moleskine

HERE you can see the beginnings of my Ballpoint Moleskine. It's a bit rubbish, so far, but it's just the start.

The Spare Moley

And, HERE you'll find the drawings from my Spare Moleskine. A kind of back up Moley. It's the substitute I call off the bench when the others are worn out from too much cross hatching.

The Sepia One

Finally, you'll see the entire set of drawings from my Sepia Moleskine HERE. It's the only one, to date, that I've finished.

But mostly, I'm the most excited about my New Moley. Which'll be coming to your screen some time soon.

And, if you are not convinced about how great the Moleskine is yet, check out Moleskinerie for all things Moley.

(Surely, I've broken some kind of record for the use the word Moleskine in one blog post? Somebody call Norris McWhirter.)

the ghosts of night, the dreams of day

Somebody, who was recently leafing through one of my sketchbooks, remarked on how unsketchbooky my sketchbooks are. It's true, of course. Almost all of my books are obsessively finished and presented. I rarely sketch, and have been meaning to change the name of this blog from 'sketchblog' to 'drawing blog' for as long as I can remember. I see every sketchbook I'm working on as being an actual finished piece. As a whole.

So, I don't really own any sketchy type sketchbooks. I do, however, have books that are filled with words, quotes, titles, names. References, basically. Ideas and references. They are the closest I get to a sketchbook. In the past I always wanted to be the kind of artists that is really sketchy and loose in the way they work. Here, in a pathetic attempt to show how sketchy and free and easy I am, I turned one of my reference pages into this drawing. Convinced? Nah, me neither. It just looks like a doodle by somebody with a serious mental illness.

I have accepted that I am not one of those artists. I'm as obsessive as the day is long. And what's really bugging me about this drawing is that I didn't add more to it, especially in the bottom left hand corner. There's always tomorrow, I suppose.

going places

Ok, kids. I'm back with you. Really, I am. Thanks for continuing to visit even though there hasn't been much new work for you to see. It's going to be all about the Moleskines over the next few weeks. I've got some endings and some new beginnings to take care of.

From top to bottom;
1. The Sepia One (I'm so close to finishing this one it hurts).
2.The Ballpointy-Journally-Memory-Could-Turn-Into-Spare-One-One (a new one. I've only drawn on the inner cover and haven't quite decided on the direction of this Moley, although I know it is going to be strictly ballpoint).
3.Spare Moley (very nearly finished).
4. The Brand Spanking New One (hasn't even been opened. I have lots of ideas for this one. Lots.)
5. The Diary (where I am planning world domination)

it's been a long time coming

So, some time back France Belleville and I started this draw off thingy.

It started with France's great drawing of Tom's camera that you can see HERE.

I came back at her with THIS drawing. I wasn't too happy with back then, but it has grown on me a little since.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, she threw THIS at me.

And finally, here's my response. Drawn in black ink with a little help from a big fat 2B.

Yes, it was supposed to be a drawing of the front of the camera. I did try but I got all freaked out by all the circles (I have terrible OCD tendencies when it comes to drawing circles, they have to be perfectly round or I'll have a nervous breakdown). So it ended up being a side on version. I will attempt the full frontal version again sometime in the future. But, one thing is for sure, I definitely won't be getting into any drawing matches with Mademoiselle Belleville* ever again.

*Of course, I'm always up for a challenge with Madame Van Stone. Congratulations France and Tom.