It has been an honor and privilege to help manage this project. After February 10th, your book will be sent to a partner organization to live on with other parts of the collection. You will have until February 10th, 2023 to request your book(s) back. We have decided to fully shut down The Sketchbook Project and Brooklyn Art Library non-profit, and gift the collection to other amazing institutions that can better care for the books. “Some bittersweet news, after 17 years, hundreds of thousands of book checkouts, over 60k sketchbooks created, thousands of miles traveled, we are closing the project. The public could visit and “check out” the books. All journals were then held at the Brooklyn Art Library. The journal had a barcode so it could be tracked and was included in a travelling exhibition. When a new project was announced, participants registered and were sent a blank Moleskine journal to fill. Private pages unencumbered by public consumption offer us flexibility and a recklessness in mark-making which can only serve us when we are ready to share work a later time.This was a worldwide project I participated in for over 10 years. There is a freedom of exploration, a willingness to grow and learn something new and not be influenced by comparison when sometimes it’s just for us. As much as I feel there is tremendous potential for community and support in sharing our work I also feel when it comes to what I classify as a sketchbook, there is an equal service in keeping work private. Or perhaps we compare our work to other artists we admire. “Are my drawings good enough?” is a question we can ask ourselves. However, whether we are starting or re-connecting with our sketchbooks it can be a little overwhelming with so much to see and the question of how much to share. The excitement of buying new art supplies and falling in the love with the world again as we draw it combined with connecting with people who share our passions is validating and fun. There’s something quite liberating about that in this world where there is an opportunity to share so much at all times. What is drawn in at the moment is what it is. One of the self-imposed rules I have with regard to sketchbooks is that unlike my journals I don’t feel the need to complete or polish the drawings up. Even though there is a real tactile joy in using beautiful paper to watercolour or draw on for these quick and fleeting studies I don’t feel it’s a necessity. For a more involved or slow study beautiful paper is a delight. In a few hurried lines, I can try to catch him before he elusively disappears into graceful flight. With these little sketchbooks, I’ve drawn down clumsily the equally clumsy gait of the cockatoo. I’ve sketched a duck angrily hissing at a flock member to back off from her turf as she protects a potential platter of insects on the grass. When sketching from life, I can begin to acquaint myself with the personality of different kinds of birds. These are quick studies to really get used to how birds move and familiarize myself with the character of the birds. As one of my goals is to get better at drawing birds I use these little pocketbooks to study birdlife outside. I’ve made simple stitched pocketbooks made out of scrap pieces of paper which are easy and disposable. I’ve used anything from my lined spiral-bound notebook to scribble birds quickly while I’m walking the dogs. Consequently, there is less pressure to create something beautiful only the intention to put something, anything down on the page. Sketchbooks for me, unlike art journals, tend to be books with cheap paper and more disposable.
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