TRACKING TIME

The middle of my favorite sketchbook

I am down to the last few pages of my favorite sketchbook. It has been with me for 10 years and the first couple of pages contain drawings I did in Sonoma before a wedding. The newlyweds now have school-aged children. 

I have sketched in this book at numerous cafes, while riding BART and other public transit, and in a car from San Francisco up towards the Oregon border. I've written in it at workshops and on our trip to Norway. During the pandemic while I attended workshops on Zoom, I drew the participants. The majority of the pages though, chronicle our time when we packed up our old house, moved around the Bay Area and settled in San Francisco. I am sorry to see this book come to a close.

Inside the front cover of my favorite sketchbook

A visit to Portland, Oregon

I have no idea where I bought the book. It is simple with a brown kraft paper-like cover and tan paper. The paper inside is not slick but sturdy enough to hold ink well and mostly not to bleed to the other side. The binding is such that the pages lie flat. It is small and light enough that I don't argue with myself about carrying it. I've had to cover the spine with black duct tape to keep it from falling apart. I have other sketchbooks I've used during the same period, but this is one I like the best. The inside cover has a simple design about what a smile means and on the opposite page a piece of calligraphy by Carol Colasurdo.

Calligraphy practice & places in the City & Walnut Creek

Zoom drawings from workshop

Part of our journey to move to San Francisco

Shoes and Feet

Looking through my stack of unfinished or brand-new sketchbooks, I've finally decided on a larger one by Stillman & Birn that has sets of black, white, tan and grey pages. The paper is not as slick as the smaller Hahnemuhle one that I thought would be my choice.

Like other sketchbooks, it is made with sets of signatures sewn into the spine. It also lies flat when open. I'm surprised that I like the larger layout, but it gives me more space around my drawings. 

The other choice is a sketchbook that is even older than my favorite. I made the book myself during a class at the San Francisco Center for the Book with an extraordinary English book designer and creator, Dominic Riley. I usually choose my favorite over this book. I think it's because I messed up the first few pages and couldn't satisfactorily, to my mind, fix it.  It's still way to busy to me.

And the next page is even worse.

But there are pages inside that I really like. The page with hares shows how important empty or negative space can be. This also shows the stitching in the signature.

Looking through my sketchbooks gives me a chance to see the passage of time, both in written words and in drawings. One way to chronicle my life.

People at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco

San Francisco Center for the Book.in their gallery:

https://www.sfcb.org/exhibitions#on-view

Take a class with Dominic Riley at SFCB:

https://www.sfcb.org/workshops/detail?coursestormCourseId=d618cee7816711f185ff0affe5650d13

https://designerbookbinders.org.uk/fellows-and-licentiates/riley-dominic/

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Peter Max, a popular artist in the 1960s and 70s, has died. RIP Peter Max. May you spend eternity in a rainbow of colors.

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Flower Piano at the Golden Gate Park's Botanical Garden is a special event that runs through this Sunday. Bring a seat or blanket and listen to local musicmakers at various locations within the gardens. Well worth a trip to San Francisco.