London trip part 1: The Sketchbook Project

Posted: 18 October 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Art and design | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

I was excited even as I left the house at 6.30am, briskly walking through the still dark streets of Bristol to catch my coach. Going to visit London quickens my heart at any time, but this time I had the added anticipation of being reunited with my sketchbook!

As I wrote previously, this time last year I was working on the Sketchbook Project 2012 – 32 blank pages to be filled with anything that took my fancy, and then returned home to the Brooklyn Art Library in New York. The wonderful people at the Art House Co-op then took all the sketchbooks on tour in the form of a travelling library. They’ve all been around the States and Canada so far, and now the European and Australian entries have come to London, before carrying onto Melbourne, and then back to be permanently housed in the Brooklyn Art Library.

When I arrived at Canada Water Library, they were just finishing setting things up:

This gave me the chance to start chatting to a fellow participant Amelia Vincent, whose imaginative sketchbook was entitled The Companion Book Of Critters I See In The Curtains.

Once they were set up, I registered for my library card. I could then search for a sketchbook on the computer system and request it. One of the librarians would then find it and give it to me, along with another surprise sketchbook.  It was a fantastic system as I got access to books I may never have seen otherwise, and saw some excellent artwork. What’s more, every participant whose book I viewed will have received an email to say “Jenny S. has viewed your sketchbook” – and I can vouch for the fact that receiving these gives you a little thrill every time.

Obviously I asked for my own sketchbook first and here we are, together again:

I then spent a wonderful hour and a half browsing other sketchbooks. I started off searching for my friend Harri Le Claire’s A Path Through the Trees, then saw Jennifer Kirkham’s romantic Wanderlust after requesting a book that would leave me feeling happy. and finally saw Janice Luckman’s I Remember You after requesting a book that included printmaking. My surprise books were by Sarah De Latte, Sally Nutting, Marcelle Hanselaar, and Andy Hoven.

Enjoy the photos and if you like what you see, follow the links above to see the full sketchbooks.

Hungry for more? Browse the whole Sketchbook Project Digital Library here.

If you want to be part of The Sketchbook Project 2013, sign up here before 31st October 2012.

The Sketchbook Project 2012

Posted: 29 March 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Art and design, Other creative shenanigans | Tags: , , , , | 7 Comments

Fantastic news today – my entry for the Sketchbook Project 2012 has been digitalised!

If you haven’t already heard about this wonderful initiative, then I must fill you in. Its another project set up by the visionary Art House Co-op (I’ve also been involved in their photo project The Meal). They describe the Sketchbook Project as being “like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks”. In brief, you register for the project, they send you a blank sketchbook to fill with whatever creative delights take your fancy, you return it by the deadline, and then they take the sketchbooks around the US, Canada, London and Melbourne, as a touring exhibition. At the end of 2012, they all return to the home of the Art House Co-op, the Brooklyn Art Library, where they become part of their permanent collection for people to come and browse as they please.

When my very talented friend Harri Le Claire told me about the project I knew I had to do it, and subsequently spent most of my spare time in Autumn and Winter 2011-12 huddled over my sketchbook (which is on the theme of Hope), scribbling and painting and sticking and generally having a grand old time. I finally sent it off in January and was thrilled to get the email to say they’d received it. It was an optional extra to have it added to their comprehensive digital library, where you can browse sketchbooks from this and previous projects, and today I found out that I’m in!

The tour comes to London from 12th-28th October and will be based at Canada Water Library. Can’t wait to go and see my entry again and spend some happy hours looking at some of the others.

If you’d like to see my sketchbook for yourself then check it out here.