The sketchbook

My constant companion

I love my sketchbooks. There's one with me wherever I go. Ideas. No judgement. Looking outwards to fill within. Nourishing. Plentiful. Pages a plenty, not knowing how it may reappear at a later stage...but it does.

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Edited Image 2016-03-08 18-27-11

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“Handling a sketchbook takes us to the heart of the space inhabited by the artist. The turning of a page brings a flow of ideas: fragments of images to come, references to places visited, experiences absorbed and thoughts provoked. It is a unique and privileged position, the prospect excites and the time spent rewards.”

Meryl Ainslie. Director,

Rabley Drawing Centre.

Draftsmanship is key to who I am and what I create. I feel it is important to introduce the factor of the hand. It gives our images identity, like that of handwriting. Through seeing it we are then able to consider it and then understand it.

Shape captivates me. I look intensely and wait my judgement upon my piece of paper until I am ready to "expect the unexpected". The shape of the object makes me determine the line quality. Judgements are passed with the intermingled sense of how I am feeling about what I have created. Sometimes it frustrates me, other times I feel overjoyed. This up and down rush from a few brush-strokes. I feel I am living it. It absorbs me until I am done.