Welcome to November 2023’s Sketchbook confessional!

The Sketchbook Confessional is a post where I round up all the art I made in a month. It’s a ‘done’ list as opposed to a ‘to-do’ list, a way to see what I shipped and did versus what I thought I did.

I tend to minimize things I’ve completed, so this kind of post is very much helpful in keeping my viewpoint objective as far as my own completed works.

So here we go! In November, I made a few dragon collages. It was very fun to make these. All of these dragons are in their new homes.

This month I finished a few ink drawings of buildings around Leadville.

In November I began working on what I am calling the Ghost Rider series, a group of works painted in water and dripped with ink.

Here is an instagram reel with more on how these are made:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0KnWxaLM5v/

In November I revisited working on embroideries and I embroidered some Junimos from Stardew Valley, and also a winter cabin scene that I found online as a template. My plan is to create about 10-15 embroideries to decorate our family Christmas tree.

I certainly wouldn’t say I am the best at embroidery, yet that is what I like most about it. I’m at the point with embroidery where I must focus on every stitch, or I risk something bad happening to the piece. This means I stop thinking about everything else. It’s really relaxing for me.

Reading:

In November I finished “On Blue’s Waters” the first book of the Short Sun cycle from Gene Wolfe. I finished “Book of the Long Sun” I think in October, and finished “Urth of the New Sun” in March. It’s been a great year of reading Gene Wolfe. I appreciate quite a bit about these books, and they’re fun to read as an artist because there are so many highly visual moments where there are exciting interpretations to build.

I did a few illustrations from Long Sun in November.

plan on doing many more illustrations of the Long Sun Cycle.

In terms of reading comics, I finished “World of Edena” by Moebius in November. I loved it. What more is there to say?

I feel Gene Wolfe and Moebius are related in terms of content and mastery. Reading both is like reading the best of the best. Everything else is hard to get used to after reading these. It’s like being on a space ship with them and then landing on earth with everyone else. If I find others like them I will be sure to keep you posted.

In November I also read a book called “Unf*ck your friendships” and enjoyed what it had to say about developing better friendships. I’ve been working hard on this dimension of life as we move through our post-crisis-level covid environments. Sometimes I forget that I can just call or text someone, like I’ve internalized that hanging out is off-limits, so its a good exercise to me to read about creating and developing friendships.

Running:

In November I got a few shorter runs in, mostly to the tune of 2-5 miles. I hope to run more in December.

That’s what I got for November 2023! Catch you next month!

For about a year, I’ve been working quite a bit on making animal art out of paper. The first animal collages, I made seven years ago when I lived in my apartment in Austin, TX.

This is a bird collage I made in the fall of 2015:

After working on and off with paper for about seven years or so, I’ve enjoyed getting handmade paper at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder and coloring the paper with iridescent watercolors in order to make these animals. The paper is a good deal because it is made of recycled t-shirts. The watercolors are all handmade - I utilize Coliro watercolors, iulie watercolors, and Emily Grace Palettes to make these.

The effect is very shiny! I love how these look when I walk past them, or when the light falls across each one and the iridescent watercolors light up. It’s iridescent watercolor on black or dark paper, and yet it’s so bright!