I have been trying to build a sketchbook practice over the past few years, and the truth is I go in spurts … some weeks I’ll play a lot and then there are times I leave it untouched for days. I think what’s hard about sketchbook work for me is that I use my daily paintings and small gouache or watercolor crayon paintings as a sketchbook of sorts. I do have to say that it is very satisfying to fill an entire sketchbook with ideas and studies and then to flip through it. That really is the fun of having a sketchbook for me–the revisiting.
I am still not feeling 100% and have had a hard time painting in my studio, and after the storms that hit the Maine coast last week, I got my sketchbook out and flipped through some of the many photos I have of the Fishing Shacks at Willard Beach and I did some paintings. I had fun playing and remembering the shacks that we all loved so much.
Once I am back to my old tricks, I will do some oil paintings of the shacks and maybe a notecard release to commemorate them and to help raise some money for the relief efforts of our coastline. Until then, enjoy these snippets from my sketchbook.