No. 218

218

Birds, Lettering, and Sailor Jerry. The Bluebird is from our trip to Yellowstone. They were hard to capture since they don’t sit still too long, but they sure are pretty. I am also still having fun with notions of Sailor Jerry art and lettering. I am considering making September Quotations month, where I explore lettering illustration.

No. 213-218 / Moleskine Pages

The Month of Moleskine—Week One

You might ask yourself why I’ve chosen to do a month of sketchbook miscellaneous. There are several reasons. One motivation is exploration. The sketchbook is where the artist or graphic designer visually thinks and problem solves. It is an essential tool for working out design ideas and recording images on location. It’s small and mobile, and for the most part inconspicuous. Often times images put in the sketchbook can be used later in paintings or projects, and can be easily referred back to.

The second reason is there’s no pressure to create a finished piece. This project itself has been pretty stressful at times. I needed some creative cultivation time.

And finally, I wanted to give my audience a bit of a break. I wanted to give you a month of breathing room. I don’t ever want to be spam in your minds. A lot of you informed me you liked the daily emails—I appreciate your feedback—daily emails will return.
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In these pages I was exploring idioms. After taking a Skillshare class by Mikey Burton I was inspired. I wanted to do some problem solving. I started making some lists and recording some sayings. I finally wound up back to a drawing I had done earlier in the project; I just wasn’t happy with it. One of the breweries here in town (Bowser Brewing) has a beer titled, “Spring Cleaning Monster.” I wanted to try my hand at illustrating it. I have included the computerized version of it at the end of the newsletter.

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This spread shows more idioms and a beautiful lily that is blooming in our front entryway.

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Last weekend we took a trip up to Glacier and landed at Two Medicine Lake. While Kyle set up taking pictures I tried my hand at drawing the lake.
 

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Squirrel! This is a squirrel I spied in a park here recently. A sucker for animals I had to draw this little guy.

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Rocks. There is a cool rock shop in Bynum, Mt., I have driven to a couple times. The owner, an 80 year-old man named John, is full of fun facts and stories. I picked up some rocks and thought it would be fun to draw them.
 

 
Thanks for checking out the sketchbook. I have included some illustrations I have done from items within it. On the idiom front I illustrated a “hot potato” and “swallow one’s pride.”