This week there was a lively discussion on the Studio Art Quilt Assoc. (SAQA) list about how folks are using (or not) sketchbooks.
I’m a firm believer in the power of sketching to generate ideas, loosen up, explore, play with composition and fall in love with certain lines. It’s almost always where the germ of an idea for a fiber piece begins. So I regularly recommit to working in a sketchbook at least several times a week. Notice I say REcommit because I regularly forget about it. too.
But when I am at a standstill (no idea percolating and self-doubt bubbling up), once I force myself to open a sketchbook and draw…things happen. My recent favorite thing to do is to listen to a New Yorker fiction podcast on my MP3 player and draw. I do best when my left brain is so absorbed in something that it lets my right brain play without judgment.
This week I dusted off a bottle of permanent black ink, made different dilution levels (grays) in an old ice-cube tray and painted. I LOVED the way the translucent layers would form such unexpected richness. Then I found going back over places with a micron pen added a whole other level of possibilities. Here are a few of the results:
inkwash 1
inkwash 3
pen and ink wash 1
