open space
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concepts of a plan
My sketchbooks get messy. Even the one I began days ago is now showing the inconsistent and immeasurable thoughts of a cluttered mind. But, mainly, it’s all good (considering the many connotations of that word).
Mostly, I am a writer and photographer (many days one more than the other). Like the tattered notebook I use to carelessly jot down random scrabble, immediate ideas and nonsensical everyday drama that may someday make it into a poem, essay, or manuscript, the sketchbook is only a stop in my creative process.
What is contained within the book may or may not make it to another level or format, but I know it is there for me to use whenever, or however, I decide to use it.
Earlier this year, after all my oil paints, solvents, brushes and canvases were packed away in preparation for a relocation, I purchased a modest set of watercolour paints, oil pastels, ink, and a big sketchbook to keep content my creativity. I filled that book up over the summer; more of a means of coping than creating.
My sketchbook, in so many ways, after what I endured or experimented with these past months, become a form of art therapy that was available to me.
In its essence, my sketchbook is full of plans, or concepts of a plan. At times it is experimental — I’m currently concerned over underpainting, the colour wheel, and the uncalculated risks of layering watercolours — a lot of what I do in this sketchbook is conceptual practice exercises with media or texture and perspectives not quite clear to me at the moment of creation. Nonetheless they serve a purpose in this, at times, cruel and compilated world.
Art needs a place in your life or mind and a sketchbook, if nothing else, allows you that time. Like life itself, indeed it does get messy.
09/15/2024 j.g.l.
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Friday the 13th
It is not that you can’t, or
even that you won’t. It is
what it is, whether you do
or you don’t.
Today or really any day, try
to do what you need to do
to become a better you.
I know it seems hard, as
many days seem like a test,
yet despite unlucky numbers,
today you should try to do
your best.
Whether you are beginning
your day, or struggling with
the middle, seek to soothe
your beleaguered soul with
a poem, rhyme, or a riddle.
09/13/2024 j.g.l.
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moving forward
It can take an awful lot of summer to attempt to do what you need to do.
Even then, after all those months, you can only wonder if you have accomplished what you set out to do.
I wonder now, as I did in June… and in August. I still feel I have so much more to accomplish; and I do. I know it.
I can feel a change, as surely as I felt the autumn chill last night and this morning. Yet, I also feel a certain satisfaction that comes from my attempts this summer to right myself.
It’s a wonder, really.
Never lose the wonder that keeps you moving forward.
09/08/2024 j.g.l.
