Sketching Book

I always have a sketch book when I travel. Even though my schedule is packed I still find moments to make an entry.

Since I took Iris Häussler workshop at the TSA, I have begun to do more drawing in those journals.

My sketchbook isn't a big book but a simple small one that fits into my pocket and is ready anytime. I use a plain old pen. Sometimes I add colour afterwards but not often.

There is lots of good that comes out of your head when you are quiet, when you allow your thoughts to wander. There are good things that happen too when you are rushed to draw something or have a  second to capture a moment in words. That quick minute does not give you enough time to criticize your entry and that's good. That concept is really at the root of my daily postcard exercise. I suppose the sketch book replaces that when I am away from my studio.

I will be giving a sketch book to each of my Verona travellers so they can journal their trip.

I made a rubbing from a tomb stone using a branch

They can sketch or write their thoughts about what they see or glue in bits of things they collect.

It will be a great memory for them and a source of inspiration for future art work.

I am giving a class centred around this idea, in much more detail, this July in Italy. Click here for details.

Folds in Fabric

When I think of fabric I thing soft, pliable, flowing.

It is odd to see sculpted fabric that is static and hard but still feels soft, pliable and flowing.

I spent three hours in the Montparnasse Cemetery (Paris) yesterday taking photographs and sketching and writing.

Have you seen Patti Smith's (yes, of punk rock fame) photographs of Montparnasse Cemetery at the Art Gallery of Ontario? The exhibit is called Camera Solo. Very clever. Camera in italian means room. The exhibit shows a collection of her photographs of sites and spaces that have personal significance, her private 'room'.

Camera Solo is on in Toronto till May 19.