I recently watched a documentary about Brian Eno, which was streamed online as part of a 24-hour event where you could watch it up to 6 times. Each showing is different, generated randomly from hundreds of hours of interview footage from across Eno’s career– a very long and interesting career including his time as a … Continue reading Brian Eno’s Notebooks
A few years ago, I went to an exhibition of art by Karla Knight, but for some reason have never gotten around to posting about it til now. Her work is very interesting, full of strange symbols and spacey-looking shapes. But of course I was especially intrigued since some of the exhibition included notebooks! I … Continue reading Karla Knight’s Notebooks
Watercolors are a great companion for many notebooks. If you like to draw or just decorate your pages, adding a splash of color is easy with a pocket size watercolor set. Lately I’ve become a bit of a collector of different watercolor boxes, some of which I’ve mentioned in previous posts where I’ve reviewed watercolor … Continue reading Watercolor Sets
I’ve posted before about Ellsworth Kelly’s Sketchbooks: see A Wonderfully Messy Sketchbook. I had to return to the topic after seeing a wonderful reel of sketchbook images on the Instagram page of EK100.org, which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ellsworth Kelly’s birth. A couple of screen grabs below: Apparently he kept lots of sketchbooks, … Continue reading Ellsworth Kelly Sketchbooks
Françoise Gilot died recently, at the age of 101. Françoise Gilot, Artist in the Shadow of Picasso, Is Dead at 101 In remembrance of her many talents, here’s an image from one of her travel sketchbooks, reproduced in facsimile in a limited edition set of books published by Tachen, which I posted about back when … Continue reading R.I.P. Françoise Gilot
Nicolas V. Sanchez does amazing drawings in sketchbooks, using ballpoint pens with stunning skill and delicacy. I love the section of his website where he presents a series of notebooks he’s filled with his incredibly vibrant drawings: See more at Nicolas V. Sanchez– Books and on Instagram at @nicolasvsanchez .
An interesting piece in the New York Times: Unearthing Rick Barton, a Boho Bard of North Beach, about a Beat-era artist whose work is now on view at the Morgan Library in NYC. Rick Barton was a somewhat obscure artist who lived in San Francisco in the late 1950s and early 1960s, often sketching in … Continue reading Rick Barton’s Sketchbooks
I happened to notice an Instagram post from Printed Matter about a facsimile book of artist Jimbo Blachly’s notebooks. (Available on the Printed Matter website.) The activity of drawing is primary to Jimbo Blachly’s work. In addition to individual drawings and watercolors, he has kept daily notebooks and sketchbooks which make up a large visual … Continue reading Jimbo Blachly’s Notebooks
Pat Perry is an artist whose sketchbook images (and other art) I’ve come across frequently on Pinterest and Instagram. His website has a very cool page where you can scroll through various sketchbook spreads: Such a fascinating mix of notes, doodles, and finely rendered drawings. See more at PatPerry.net/sketchbooks.
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
