This is a really interesting sketchbook, now part of the collection of the National Museum of Australia. It belonged to a young Aboriginal man named Oscar. The article is a bit vague about the circumstances of Oscar’s life– it sounds like he could have been a slave, or indentured servant, or at best an orphan … Continue reading Oscar’s Sketchbook
Architects’ sketchbooks are always some of my favorites to look at. And having worked with an architect and contractor on a renovation of my own home, the quote below really resonated with me, as I found myself frequently pulling out my own notebooks to draw ideas that I couldn’t otherwise explain! From architect to contractor, … Continue reading Architects’ Sketchbooks as Visual Conversation
I recently came across this 2016 Huffington Post article about the auction sale of a Salvador Dali notebook via Pinterest, and thought “How on earth did I miss this?!?” This is one of my favorite glimpses of an artist’s notebook! Here’s A Rare Glimpse Inside Salvador Dali’s Unpublished Diaries Salvador Dali, the great Surrealist painter … Continue reading Salvador Dali Notebook
I get some great tips from readers, especially David B., who shared this one recently: “Fresh Air” on NPR today reran Teri Gross’s interview with Francis Ford Coppola from 2016 when his Godfather production notebook facsimile was published. I don’t remember ever hearing about this book at the time but it sounds like a fascinating … Continue reading The Godfather Notebook
Gerard McNeil was featured here as a Notebook Addict of the Week over 10 years ago. In that post, we saw some photos of the notebooks he uses to capture creative ideas, and a few interiors. Recently he got back in touch and shared a link to his website, where you can get a more … Continue reading Gerard’s Visual Journals
This World War I notebook found on eBay is a recent addition to my collection of vintage notebooks. I was intrigued by this notebook because I’d never seen one quite like it, and there is no manufacturer’s name or symbol anywhere on it. Unlike the other World War 1 soldier’s diary in my collection, it’s … Continue reading World War I Notebook
The MoMA website has an interesting feature on Rashid Johnson’s sketchbook practice. In a conversation with Samantha Friedman, the organizer of MoMA’s exhibition “Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury,” Johson talks about how he uses sketchbooks, some of the motifs in his drawings, and how the pandemic inspired him to think back to how he’d used … Continue reading Rashid Johnson’s Sketchbook
dana jennings, toxic youth, unh, sketchbook, drawing, moleskine, handbook artist journal, journal
What if someone found your secret notebooks from childhood, almost 40 years after you’d last written in them? It could happen: a 9 year old girl hid these notebooks in a crawl space in her home in 1983. They were forgotten and her family moved away. Decades later, contractors working on the home gave them … Continue reading Secret Notebooks from 1983
Before the holidays, I was talking about my wishlist of a few notebook/sketchbook/art supply items. Santa came through! I expected to receive James McElhinney’s Sketchbook Traveler book, and I wasn’t disappointed. McElhinney’s pocket size sketches are reproduced life-size, each accompanied with text about the location depicted. Additional material in the book gives some lessons about … Continue reading Christmas Books