It’s always fun to see chefs’ notebooks… fun and mouth-watering! From Honolulu Magazine: Some chefs sketch out their ideas for new dishes; most don’t. At Chef Mavro, chef/owner Jeremy Shigekane’s intricate presentations—each of which will end up as a course on one of his tasting menus—begin with a vegetable or fruit. He checks farmlinkhawaii.com, a site that … Continue reading A Honolulu Chef’s Notebook
I’ve heard from a couple of readers on how they’re notebooking their way through the COVID-19 shutdown. Here are their stories: Tina Koyama A little more than 3 weeks ago, I was so freaked out about the pandemic that I needed something to do to calm my mind so that I could move on with … Continue reading Notebooking Through the Coronavirus
From Wallpaper.com: Hair artist Julien D’ys is one person never low on artistic output. Over the years, he has amassed hundreds of notebooks all bursting with sketches, paintings and photographs that have formed the basis of his work with Comme des Garçons, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld and Marni, to name a few. ‘My notebook is like my brain,’ D’ys says. … Continue reading Julien D’ys’ Notebooks
Roy Lichtenstein is best known for his Pop Art comic book style works, so I was quite surprised to come across this page from one of his sketchbooks, which is now in the collection of the Whitney Museum. Not comic-y at all, these seem to be studies of perhaps architectural moldings and patterns. I was … Continue reading Roy Lichtenstein’s Sketchbook
How’s everyone doing? Are you staying home? Are you writing a lot? Drawing? Filling notebooks to fill your time? Recording what life is like during this historic pandemic? These are such strange times. I’ve stopped carrying a bag or any notebooks with me when I do my weekly grocery run so I’ll have less stuff … Continue reading Notebooking through the Pandemic
I have a couple of Moleskine’s Japanese Albums, but I’ve never actually used one. The elongated spread of pages always seems daunting to me, but I love to see the way other artists take advantage of this format. American illustrator Chris Russell is one of the best I’ve seen. Large narrative paintings by seventeenth century … Continue reading Chris Russell’s Humanity Notebooks
Ok, maybe it seems a little crazy but this is a serious question: should we be thinking about disinfecting notebooks during this Coronavirus pandemic? (The same question would apply to pens.) Imagine you are sitting in a cafe, writing in your notebook. You set it on the tabletop. What if the person sitting there before … Continue reading Disinfecting Notebooks
A gallery in Long Beach, CA has an exhibition of sketchbooks, on view until March 20, 2020: The personal sketchbooks of more than 20 local artists will be on display at Flatline gallery, Saturday night. Unique to each artist, sketchbooks tend to be full of observational studies and jotted-down ideas; they’re candid representations of an … Continue reading The Sketchbook Show
This look at the Pen & Ink Sketchbook is the 2nd post in my “Then and Now” series, examining various notebook brands that have been around for a while to see how they’ve changed. (See my “then and now” post about the Rhodia Webnotebook). I am always griping about how Moleskine’s notebooks have declined in … Continue reading Pen & Ink Sketchbook: Then & Now Review
This is pretty inspiring: Sean Äaberg is an artist and game designer who had a stroke in late 2018. During his recovery over the following 16 months, he kept sketchbooks, re-learning how to draw day by day. His wife shares them in this video. Read more about him at Boing Boing: Artist Sean Äaberg’s stroke … Continue reading Sketching Through Stroke Recovery