Sketchbook Project complete!

I’ve been on a little iMovie streak, I’m realizing.

Anywho, here’s a little movie slideshow of my completed sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project 2011. It’s mostly acrylic ink (leftover from what the cat knocked over, as you may recall) but I had some fun at the end using pencil crayons. I mentioned artist Lilly Piri a little while ago and really wanted to try her laborious pencil crayon style, but on a less daunting scale.

The music is Max Richter‘s “Arboretum”.

Sketchbook project in progress

I’ve been chipping away at this Moleskine sketchbook for the Art House Co-op’s sketchbook project (see the link on the side of this page?) I wanted to work with acrylic ink, since I love full-bodied acrylic and one of my favourite illustrators (Jillian Tamaki) recommends sketching in ink. I have to send it to Brooklyn by mid-Jan., so I’ll post more pics of some finished pages soon, but here’s a little preview of some in-progress pages…

Acrylic ink + cat + carpet= temper tantrum

To start the morning, I thought I’d work on my sketchbook. I’ve been enjoying acrylic ink lately, so that was my medium of choice. Acrylic ink is permanent, water-resistant and quick-drying. It’s a gorgeous, sunny morning and a whole family of house finches are fighting over the feeder. I can only enjoy this pleasant view from the table in the living room – the carpeted living room.

Turns out, it was also the perfect morning for being reminded why I chose the little room with both a door and laminate floor as my studio.

Ambrose is a very whiny cat. He whines even more when it’s sunny outside. He whines even more still when Josh is away. And he really likes to sit on whatever you are doing that isn’t taking him outside. I know all this.

So why, you might ask, did I tempt fate by bringing my lovely bottle of dark umber acrylic ink out to the living room table to work on my sketchbook? Because I was still half-asleep? Possibly. Because it was so nice there I didn’t consider the consequences? Yes. Because Ambrose is a maniacal genius who can control my mind and make me do things I wouldn’t normally do? Unfortunately, no. This one’s on me, as much as all my yelling and swearing and stomping was directed at him. Perhaps scrubbing the spilled ink from the table, the carpet, my foot and Ambrose’s paw could be considered therapeutic?

I’m sure I’m not the only one with stories of art-ing and crafting supplies falling into the hands/paws of children/pets. My Mom still tells the story of three-year-old me cutting her in-progress tailored French silk blouse to ribbons with pinking shears! How ’bout you, what kind of stories have you got?

The Sketchbook Project

I came across something called The Sketchbook Project through a blog I follow. It sounded pretty neat: an international call for artists to participate by ordering a sketchbook, filling it with sketches based on one of the suggested themes, then returning it to be part of a touring exhibition and eventually catalogued at the Brooklyn Art Library. So, I ordered my book and I’ve started sketching. My theme is “in flight”. It’s intimidating to look at the wonderful sketchbooks of past years, then look at the blank pages in my book. At least, when I’m feeling cheeky, I’ll be able to say I’ve shown in New York! Hee hee hee…