Visual Sketchbooks - cont'd

OK now for Part 2,


But first - one more thing about the books. When assembling these, I like to use hard covers (usually heavy card stock or mat board) and I fuse hand dyed cloth to the front and back covers.

What you see in the next picture is a sketchbook open to the back page, showing the inside of the back cover.


This next picture is a page in the mid section of the same book showing the initial ink wash.

Next, I open the newly bound sketchbook either to the first page or last… not important which. Then, using a #11blade knife I cut out a shape (or two) from the page. Sometimes I use the imagery suggested by the black ink or I may have another specific shape in mind. I continue cutting out these shapes on several pages, focusing mostly on positive and negative shapes.




Using various black pens (from microns to fat markers) I add lines, textures and shapes at will to each page, going back and forth across the book. This process allows me to really develop a specific concept in much greater detail than ever before.




I end up with roughly four dozen drawings that are related in imagery, line, shape and texture. Sometimes I will fill up a book in one sitting but more often I will come back to the book several times to work a few sketches at a time. This is a very meditative process and provides rich thumbnails for future work.

Because of the way a book is structured, each cut out shape affects both sides of a page. As I turn to the next page, my cut out is still there but in a new context. This feeds the next cutout, inking and dare I say it even an occasional colour mark...

To keep things exiting, I have on occasion inserted a page or two of translucent organza or other textile into one of the signatures to allow for an occasional stitch mark to contrast with the paper drawings.


There are no end to the possibilities with this approach. Books can be made entirely of cloth and paper can be initially painted with coloured inks. I have been so busy just exploring the possibilities with black ink I haven’t yet been able to get around to colour – but it won’t be long!

My Take On Visual Sketchbooks

Lately I have been following with interest Pam RuBert’s posts about keeping visual sketchbooks organized. She collected a great list from her readers on how they tackle this – check it out HERE.


I'm no different...I too struggle with organizing and collating my sketches for easy reference. Recently I found a solution that has worked for me. I now sketch, draw, stencil and mark as I make the sketchbook….Weird huh? But this works.

Each one of my books contains several drawings related to one theme. They are all bound together into one book that is dated and signed. I got this idea from Dorothy Caldwell, whose work I love.


Here's how it works:
I start by slathering (yes, almost sloshing) black India ink on a large sheet of really nice white paper and let it dry. I work pretty fast using a foam brush, or sometimes I even pour the ink directly on the paper, let it settle a bit, tilt the paper etc.

My aim is to produce a rich contrast between the black of the ink with the creamy white of the paper. Acid free card stock quality paper or similar is very satisfying…


Then I cut the large sheet of inked paper into several 4’’ x 8½’’ stacks.

I fold these in two and arrange them into signatures ready for sewing into a sketchbook.
There are several online tutorials on how to sew these little books together.
Pam has a link to THIS ONE on her site. My favourite is a Coptic stitch bookbinding technique I found HERE. It is fast and fun to do.


Normally this would be the end of a sketchbook making exercise, but for me this is only the beginning. In my next post I will describe how the bookbinding and sketching come together and feed off each other!

New work

Here is a peek at the stuff that currently moves from my wall to my table and back to my wall again. The top piece is finally quilted. It was designed with every shade of red that I could find in my stash. I must be anticipating a long, cold and colourless winter...



I have concluded that I don't have enough shades of red and I need to make more - a good project at this time.

This second piece was made with some hemp that I wanted hand dye.

It dyes OK, but doesn't hold a candle to pima cotton or silk broadcloth.

I joined it with a piece of burnt orange pima that I silk screened with a couple of motifs. It is now ready for quilting. I feel that this one will need about as much thread as the red one above.

Speaking of thread, I also have some hand stitching in the works.


I find that this is a great way to create a shibori resist for dyed fabric.
Here is an example of machine stitched resist underway,

And here is the result.

Not too bad. Next time I plan on using use a heavier thread to produce a bolder outline.

What's on my floor

Many many colour wheels. These are colour intensity studies done with opaque fabric paint on black cotton cloth. They are drying under the supervision of my trusty lab assistant.

Lulubelle waits patiently for more wheels to arrive as I am also making a 2nd set with transparent fabric paint. She thinks that I am having an attack of OC. Far from the truth!

Here are the two sets moved off the floor. I have fused the sheets together in a fan-fold arrangement so they can all be viewed at the same time and shades can be compared.
Now that these are done, I am about to make another set - this time, colour value studies. This is positively addictive.

Friday's Eye

Here it is the 25th and I still haven't posted last Friday's acrylic exercise. OK, here is the eye the teacher painted in ten minutes to show us the way:
Wow this eye really stares at you. It did at us all day in class. Ted chose to demonstrate several facial features on separate little mini canvases (like fat eights). This eye was very intense. You can also appreciate the economy of his brush strokes as you can still see the green under-painting poking through the top layers of paint. All the colours are clear and work together as glazes - no mud.

and here is my little effort. Not bad for starters, but poor marks for glazing. I did a nice job on the eyebrow - little bit of green poking through. But the eye is muddy. I am proud of the eyeball and I notice that the pupil of my eye is not as dilated as Ted's. My eye has eaten her carrots. I need to make a few more of these so I can get it right. The power of clear glazes...

White Water Thursday

Day four. Here is today's piece. I forgot to snap the original photo - darn. It makes it so much easier for you to relate to this process when you can see the original, sorry about that. The photo I was working from was shot in the rocky mountains looking down stream into a creek of white water. The whole picture was very dark with light hitting very little other than white water slapping against a few rocks. Ok, here is the original photo (retrofit post:-)


Again, another red rock treatment I'm afraid, but the real challenge today was how to convey running water over rock, oh and differentiate it from the snow sitting on the rock... another type of water. On my monitor this peg looks a very blue. The original has a lot more green, so when you see blue, think green. I spent all day on this one fat quarter of student grade primed canvas. The results are OK but I think that I could use another go at this motif.

Even though my results have been uneven, I have learned a lot of stuff this week that I have long wondered about. For instance, by using photography as a departure point (a black & white photo is ideal) I can take what I want from an original image and morph it into another design and colour combo representing what I feel like saying, conveying illustrating. The original image is that powerful when used this way. I have always known this , but for the first time I have actually done it "on command"and it works. On the technical side, I have also learned how to make shadows on snow that look real, made rock that looks real even if it is red, and water to look as if it is white or mirror clear.

Tomorrow is the last day of this class. For something completely different, Ted will demonstrate how to paint a nose, eyes, and lips. What fun. Who needs a face when you can get the nose right?!
Will post results tomorrow.

Red Rock Wednesday

Talk about a painting a day!
I am on a week-long course in acrylic painting and I have already used up all my stretched canvases - it's only Wednesday. Unknowingly, last year I bought a roll of 60"wide primed canvas (I had no idea why at the time, it just seemed sensible) so now each morning, I simply tear off a length of this stuff and off I go. It gives me 3 canvases, each 20 x 15... albeit not stretched. I just tape it to the easel (looks like a fat quarter) and paint away. By noon I am ready for the second one, by two the third. With acrylics I need to work fast or the stuff dries up - turns into plastic before my eyes - I keep having to remember to spritz.

Today we were asked to pick from a bunch of black and white photos and convert the image into some sort of painting - landscape, abstract shapes, whatever we wanted. On day one, we were given a photo and told to paint it as is (no choice). Today, this is the picture I chose.

Ok, it's a picture of a rock. A big one, in a wooded setting with snow on the ground. Yawn... but there was something about the composition that was intriguing. I decided that this was indeed a big bold rock that needed a big bold treatment. Ted (our teacher) travelled across Canada a couple of years ago, photographing it along the way. I suspect that this shot shows a piece of the Canadian shield - big, bold, massive.
Not too much time to think about it, as we were told to hurry up and get our large dark masses sketched in (this reminds me of someone...). No pencils allowed, we sketch in with a #4 flat bristle brush and fill in larger areas using a #8. We then move to lighter and lighter values and finish off with highlights. We then move on to the next piece. Here is my result.

The two ugly green rectangles at the top are the masking tape bits holding up my "fat quarter" on the easel. Ted came by wanting to know about the material I was painting on. I explained that I had run out of stretched canvas and this was simply a piece of torn primed canvas. He suggested that I invest in Belgian linen and not waste my time with primed cotton canvas. OK, sure.
Here is Ted Zuber on the left, talking with Andrew, another student.

Tomorrow we focus on water, all kinds, clear, choppy, waves, white water and snow. BTW on the way home I caught an awesome sky.
Stormy weather ahead is announced on the radio but I don't really care. All I can think about is the piece I did on Monday. This is the inspiration I need to correct the sky, or perhaps just start another painting.

painting at St Lawrence college this week

I signed up for a painting course at St Lawrence college this summer. The class is run by Ted Zuber who was Canada's one and only Gulf War artist back in 1990. Canada's new War Museum features Ted's work done when he was a 19 year old during the Korean war - he was not an official war artist back then, just a regular foot soldier. He had the urge to sketch everything he saw. Once home in the safety of his studio he turned some of these sketches into some amazing paintings. I had a chance to see his work at the museum a couple of weeks ago - that's when I decided to sign up for "field painting... being creative on command". Don't you just love that title!!
Today was day one and sure enough,we were put to work very quickly.

Here is my first effort. A barn. I know, not very original, but the B&W photo I was given was a winter scene cluttered with fences, trees and other distractions. These are my own colours and my own season. I now also realise that he barn has no windows or doors...hmm. but I painted it in 2.5 hours...on command too.
After lunch, I was given a second B&W photo of a very angry sky against a low horizon. This was more successful I think - less scumble-work with the brush and better use of colour values and texture to convey motion.

Tomorrow I'm back for day 2 of a very enjoyable week. I will keep you posted.