Sketch journal January 2023

The first drawing came from copying something I liked – I can’t remember where I copied this from. I should have made a note on the page. I like the simple graphic nature of the drawing and the symmetry and that it was made with all one line, not raising the pen. I also like the horizon line. It appears in other drawings. Having a horizon line instantly makes me feel at home, in process of drawing a world.

Another horizon line in this spread. The moon is a stamp using a jar lid dipped in ink. I like how the rabbit and the puzzled man seem related just by putting them next to each other. There’s some strange story going on here. When I draw faces, they often have weird expressions. And are frequently bald because hair is troublesome to draw. There’s some humor here. Looking at this makes me want to laugh. I was just starting to draw rabbits and didn’t really know how. There are several really bad sketches of rabbits around this time.

I’ve drawn pine cones a few times. I really like drawing them and I always like how they turn out. I think it’s the contrast – black and white – that’s so satisfying. It’s so easy to add the dark shading to a pine cone without worrying too much about where the light is coming from.

I like this drawing of items on the desk. I would not be satisfied by drawing bottles over and over again to get good at it though… It’s more of a default subject when I can’t think of anything else to draw.

I started using alphabet stamps that I bought in Cambridge when visiting a friend. I added little titles with them, which was time consuming but fun. There was also a ritual of stamping the date on each page which I did monthly, just before the new month began.

All the drawing in January was pen and ink. I really like using ink. They are done with a Kakimori nib, which I also like. These nibs take up a lot of ink and are fun to use because there’s less frequent need for dipping. I remember wanting to get really comfortable with the Kakimori nib. I think at this point, I thought the whole book would be pen and ink. There are several pages with just patterns drawn with ink.

January’s drawings also express how I’m hung up between different styles of drawing: graphic, abstract, representational, imaginative. Somehow I wish I could settle on just one. It’s been drilled into me through classes and books that there is great value in looking at an object and trying to draw it accurately. But do I really believe that, for me, who has no ambition to be a painter or illustrator? The imaginative drawings hold more fascination for me, that’s for sure. More emotional response. But I have to be able to draw something fairly realistically (a rabbit, a face) to make the imagined story accessible.