.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}
   Welcome to my blog! I'll be posting thoughts about art, photos, happenings, and other things that strike me--and hopefully my readers--as interesting. And please visit my website by clicking the link to the right--thanks!

   Also please check out my second blog, The Painting Archives to see older (pre-2004) paintings for sale.


Sunday, May 09, 2021
  pandemic sketchbooks
As we begin to emerge from the heaviest pandemic restrictions I'm reflecting on a ritual I began in the studio almost a year ago--each day making a quick image in a sketchbook. Over time I've accumulated nine volumes of mixed media drawings as a result of this practice. This is a drawing from June 2020, near the start of this practice: 



I began keeping these sketchbooks without a real plan or intention that I would do a drawing each day, and so at first the entries were more sporadic. They were simply a way to discharge some emotion at the start of a painting session and to settle into the day's other work. I'd never had specific studio rituals in the past so I was not inclined to think of them in that way, although after several months creating these pages did become my habit. 




At the time, I began the sketchbooks, I was also doing many other, larger works on paper as a large component of my studio time, and appreciating the immediacy of that expression. So, it seemed natural to do start these smaller ones as well. Channeling some of my fluctuating emotions of last summer into this quick and intuitive work was calming and satisfying. Later, when most of my focus shifted back to paintings on panel, I continued the sketchbooks and they evolved into the daily ritual that they are now., I even take my sketchbook and materials along if I am away from the studio for a day. Thus one is from November 2020:




It is natural to look for symbolism connected to pandemic issues in these images, and I sometimes see it. All of the images are done intuitively, with no pre-planning, and as such have reflected my states of mind. For example, a recurring theme is geometric, orderly lines or shapes drawn over a more loose or chaotic background as in these two from early winter:







Another recurring motif is small marks that suggest footsteps, rocks, or places where I pause when out walking, an activity that has brought peace in the midst of the anxieties of the past year. These often travel across an image with a sense of movement, as in this page from December 2020:





The sketchbook images also include references to the New Mexico landscape with its canyons and rock faces, which has been my refuge in the past year and more. Although I've gotten away from obvious landscape imagery in my paintings, I am free with referential imagery when it comes through in my sketchbooks:




The process I use in all of these is simple and direct, using a variety of water-based and drawing media and tools. I have a dedicated place in the studio where I keep my materials in a typically messy array (it was cleaned up quite a bit for this photo): 




Does this daily practice feed into my larger paintings in oil and cold wax? I believe so, although not in a very direct way due to the differences in media and attitude. I think of the sketchbook drawings as important to me in their own right, personal and intimate like a journal can be. That said, I sometimes think about publishing a selection as a small book to share them with a wider audience--a project for some time in the future. For now, they continue to engage me and ground me every day, even as life begins to open up post-pandemic, and I wonder how they will continue to evolve in the future.  


 

       www.rebeccacrowell.com




     September 2005 /      October 2005 /      November 2005 /      December 2005 /      January 2006 /      February 2006 /      March 2006 /      April 2006 /      May 2006 /      June 2006 /      July 2006 /      August 2006 /      September 2006 /      October 2006 /      November 2006 /      December 2006 /      January 2007 /      February 2007 /      March 2007 /      April 2007 /      May 2007 /      June 2007 /      July 2007 /      August 2007 /      September 2007 /      October 2007 /      November 2007 /      December 2007 /      January 2008 /      February 2008 /      March 2008 /      April 2008 /      May 2008 /      June 2008 /      July 2008 /      August 2008 /      September 2008 /      October 2008 /      November 2008 /      December 2008 /      January 2009 /      February 2009 /      March 2009 /      April 2009 /      May 2009 /      June 2009 /      July 2009 /      August 2009 /      September 2009 /      October 2009 /      November 2009 /      December 2009 /      January 2010 /      February 2010 /      March 2010 /      April 2010 /      May 2010 /      June 2010 /      July 2010 /      August 2010 /      September 2010 /      October 2010 /      November 2010 /      December 2010 /      January 2011 /      February 2011 /      March 2011 /      April 2011 /      May 2011 /      June 2011 /      July 2011 /      August 2011 /      September 2011 /      October 2011 /      November 2011 /      December 2011 /      January 2012 /      February 2012 /      March 2012 /      April 2012 /      May 2012 /      June 2012 /      July 2012 /      August 2012 /      September 2012 /      October 2012 /      November 2012 /      December 2012 /      January 2013 /      February 2013 /      March 2013 /      April 2013 /      May 2013 /      June 2013 /      July 2013 /      August 2013 /      September 2013 /      October 2013 /      November 2013 /      December 2013 /      January 2014 /      February 2014 /      March 2014 /      April 2014 /      May 2014 /      June 2014 /      July 2014 /      August 2014 /      September 2014 /      October 2014 /      November 2014 /      December 2014 /      January 2015 /      February 2015 /      March 2015 /      April 2015 /      May 2015 /      June 2015 /      July 2015 /      August 2015 /      September 2015 /      October 2015 /      November 2015 /      December 2015 /      January 2016 /      February 2016 /      March 2016 /      April 2016 /      June 2016 /      July 2016 /      August 2016 /      September 2016 /      October 2016 /      November 2016 /      December 2016 /      January 2017 /      February 2017 /      March 2017 /      May 2017 /      June 2017 /      July 2017 /      August 2017 /      September 2017 /      October 2017 /      November 2017 /      December 2017 /      January 2018 /      March 2018 /      April 2018 /      May 2018 /      June 2018 /      August 2018 /      September 2018 /      October 2018 /      November 2018 /      December 2018 /      February 2019 /      April 2019 /      May 2019 /      June 2019 /      July 2019 /      August 2019 /      September 2019 /      October 2019 /      December 2019 /      January 2020 /      March 2020 /      April 2020 /      May 2020 /      June 2020 /      August 2020 /      October 2020 /      January 2021 /      March 2021 /      May 2021 /      September 2021 /

       Rebecca Crowell