I have accumulated a LOT of art supplies over the past 30+ years. They are a combination of pre-college buys, leftovers from art classes, and random purchases that I could not resist. They have moved with me from different states and different houses. Each time I’ve packed and unpacked them, I think THIS TIME WILL BE the time I use them to create a piece of art! But that doesn’t always happen…
One thing I’ve managed to collect an entire stack of is sketchbooks in various sizes and styles. A couple were gifts while the rest were impulse buys. Some have never been used while some only contain a hand full of drawings among mostly blank pages. Since I set out to do a drawing a day in 2020, I saw a great opportunity to declutter and repurpose these sketchbooks. As this month’s blog title states, if I am not going to use it, I am going to lose it (or at least recycle it).
May’s drawings are in a 11x8-inch sketchbook that I started drawing in during 1990 when I was back in New Orleans. The book included design ideas for my dad, who had a snow-ball stand side hustle in Perdido Key, FL, among other pre-college art class drawings. This being 30 years later, I thought it would be fun and interesting to repurpose or enhance them. Excited about this idea, I went into it with gusto. However, what I thought would be easy was actually quite hard to pull off. You will see that I was into Surrealism back then, and even prior to my Florida life, this Cajun was into surfing.
I’m sure you will agree that not all attempts to enhance these 30-year-old drawings were successful. But they got my best attempt. The rest of the month’s drawings were a continuous practice of exaggerating the figure, which will be seen in future paintings.
I have been inspired by a few new-to-me artists this year - Damian Fulton, Erik Abel, Jonas Claesson (who has done some designs for Innerlight Surf Shop), and Drew Brophy. Each one has a great style that I can see influencing my own work. I can’t wait to incorporate the new techniques I’m learning into my NOLA, Pensacola, and new subject matter pieces. It is all about growing, expanding, and keeping the art exciting and fresh.
Please click here to enjoy this month’s drawings.
As always, comments are welcome. They help me to grow as an artist.
Nice! I love the reworks and all of the old sketches (with your notes!). Great job keeping up with the blog too, I remember sitting at Perfect Plain with you and Jessica and you telling Mike and I about it! I’ve been enjoying reading it every month :).