I'm testing to see if Substack is a good place to put my videos, of which I have many. Making videos and editing them takes a long time, and it’s time away from painting and drawing, so I tend to take breaks from shooting video. Plus sometimes it feels like an intrusion into the painting process. But, that said, there is a whole lot that is appealing about video, so I will always return to video in some form or other.
I use a variety of ways to collect information for paintings. Making the quick diagrams shown in this sketchbook is one way. These quick things are usually done with ballpoint pen on folded up printer paper which I keep in my breast pocket. When I see something on my walks or drives that I want to paint, I distill the scene into a few lines and shapes, with some notation suggesting darks and lights. These diagrams show only a barebones composition and how shapes interact. It’s best that the painting be made shortly after the diagram is made……later in the same day or the day after at the latest.
The folded up sheets of printing paper get thrown into my desk drawer, and when the pile gets annoyingly messy, I cut out the little drawings with scissors and glue the bits into sketchbooks, for no particular reason, other than I’m a packrat and can’t bear to throw them out.
Sketchbook View