Though I paint nearly everyday, there are times where I simply get too wrapped up in the many other jobs I have. Whether it be weeks of demolition work, my Thursday/Friday routine of roasting coffee or handyman, house painting, frame making, copper scrapping… it’s safe to say I do just about whatever I have to, to make ends meet. It’s mostly hard physical work which satisfys my soul, and affords me the ability to pay my bills without the burdens of sacrificing the vision of my art to make things I do not want.

Whenever I find it frustrating that my work is not selling at the galleries I remember a highschool trip with a program calle “Visions,” to Tuscon. There we payed a visit to a gallery and local artist Chris Rush. He said something along the lines of… “Look around at all the people in this room. When you get to my age, (probably mid to late 50’s in 2010) most likely only one of you will still be making art. It is a game of attrition.” My art teachers were offended by these words. They brought their kids to someone who was in it, and wasn’t going to excite or lie to us with falsities. It was not all champagne parties and the romantic swashing of brushes and paint. There was to be a lot of isolation and hard times to come, both financially and emotionally.

There is comfort in a shared misery.

As I digress into dismal territory, as I often do. I always rebound with disgusting positivity. The truth of the matter is I enjoy suffering, and it is mostly self inflicted. On wards and upwards.

The point of this post is to touch on drawing daily in face of “not having the time” to paint. I am an obssesive drafstmen and always carry a bag with me of which the contents act as a sort of “life vest” to keep me from drowning in the sea (my daily work and travels). In this bag, I will always have a sketchbook of the Stillman and Birn make. A brass watercolor box. An X-Lab Mezzo Pod, which carries and protects a large amount of expensive watercolor brushes and twists apart and doubles as a water vessel. I also, carry a small leather pencil case (purchased in Firenze). In this case I always have a pencil sharpener, several #2 pencils (usually HB office pencils, and 2B), a mechanical pencil (Pentel Orenz as of late), a tube of white gouache, and a tombo mono eraser.

I think the importance of experimenting with your materials is essential to using them more fluidly in your practices. Sketch books lend themselves to this readily. You have dozens of pages in one small booklet that can be used essentially everywhere, and at anytime. It gives you the opportunity to experiment and hone your drawing and painting skills in congruity with finished works.

The sketchbooks that I most enjoy are Stillman & Birn Epsilon Series. They have a hotpressed smooth paper and are offered in both hard and soft cover. You give up some pages by going with the softcover but it weighs much less, which may or may not matter to you. The softcover does lay flat, and handle watermedia exceptionally well. I have no problem with buckling.

Hope you enjoy. I am just writing and posting things that I have found helpful or general ramblings on all things art, painting and drawing materials. I hope you can find them either helpful to your future creations or just to absorb and take in.