Thumbnail sketches
preparing for a summer show
Hello!
It’s mid-April and I’m feeling a twinge of panic as I start preparing for an August solo show of drawings. The community gallery has space for about 15 medium-size (20”x26”) drawings, so if I keep up a habit of 5 drawings per month, I should be able to get there.
I am new to preparing multiple pieces for a show, but really keen to get lost in the activity of drawing for the next few months. The general theme is “drawing the understory”, paying attention to the layer of plants, twigs, branches and rotting duff on the ground level in the woods. I have doubts and questions: will I be repeating myself with each drawing? Is that a bad thing?
How am I starting?
I’ve been working small, drawing on 5”x7” pieces of mylar. The dogs and I have been walking around in the cold rain, and I’ve been noticing the openness of the woods right now, with the little green buds not yet filling in the spaces between branches. This transparency is what I’m trying to mark down in these sketches.
(video shows my dog perched on a boulder, us observing the cherry and ironwood thicket without leaves yet, in the rain and wind)
I’d like to include these small drawings in the show, but also use some of them as compositions for the larger ones. I’m hoping that as the number of 5”x7” thumbnails build up, I can select from them to create a story with the larger pieces. The whole set of drawings should show a progression of understory plants emerging and filling the ground-level layer of woods as the summer weather intensifies.
Setting aside some time?
I’m taking inspiration from last summer, when I worked on similar sized and themed drawings. I squeezed in time to draw while making dinner, and once my daughter was in bed. Being somewhat northern in Bella Coola, the daylight lingers until about 10 pm, so I drew until then.
Procrastinating…
I’ve been sticking with my usual behaviour of not working on a project until I start to feel a little pressure. I’ve known about this show since February, but am now finally getting started. I really felt like taking a break from making artwork through the winter, and have been spending my later evenings reading, watching movies, and playing charades with my family.
I have also been doing a lot of AutoCAD drafting for work lately, so sometimes I just sit and massage my right forearm and wrist, trying to preserve that arm for non-mouse drawing.
Books - Posts - Art Basket
After reading Donna Tartt’s Secret History, I looked for more library books about Greek mythology (I have a patchy knowledge of this world.) Circe by Madeline Miller was a wonderful read, and I just received her Song of Achilles through the library ordering system. Still waiting for Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey to arrive.
Re-watched Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch
A few substack discoveries (possibly have mentioned these before!): The Oyster Log, Spacies, and also I loved artist Allie Yacina’s latest newsletter about preparing for and then taking down her recent show (accompanied by images of her beautiful work).
Amy Wright’s paintings:
Thank you for reading Studio Notebook, and see you at the end of the month for an Art Space draw-along video, all about working on translucent paper ❤️
Aw thanks for the shout out 🥰