Daily Sketch 20260415 | My journey with pen and paper

One thing that had not crossed my mind when deciding to share more of my art journey is how to properly document, accumulate and share my story in a way that is not abusive to those who may choose to join me in this adventure.

What that means is, there should be a loosely organized plan of attack that will eliminate multiple emails regarding one work, smaller works or when my attention is diverted to other tasks.

This week my goal has been to better document the pausing stages of the work in a cleaner way. To be clear, there is no plan to set up a photography studio. Most of these sketches are done in low light while hanging out with the family.

For the past year and a half my process has been to snap a quick reference pic of the closing stage of the evening. Again, often in a lower light setting and before retiring for the evening. The purpose served has a dual focus. One, they can quietly be shared with friends and family. Two, seeing the work in a pictured state translates the work differently to my eye. Points of reference jump out to me and will sometimes reshape the vision one gets while working. This can be both good and bad, at times. Still, it helps me appreciate the steps forward and see things that may have been overlooked.

In short, the weekly process photos were made with documenting the process in mind.

Something else that I have decided to include are a few of the miscellaneous daily sketch works. These are a different thing from the work we discussed above. These occur throughout the day and can be a fun effort to test certain ideas, practices and textures.

There will be a lot of these miscellaneous works. You have been warned but also hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy working on them.

This week my friend Joop was in mind and his blog titled The Stoner HiVe had me looking toward bees as my next adventure.

The bees turned out better than expected for a first attempt and the hive was a big chunk of honey to bite into. Adding the hatching disguised the bee work a bit but nature also tends to camouflage her beauty at work, on occasion.

“Finding space outside of the hive.”

If there was a quote that could define what I am doing here it would be this. “Finding space outside of the hive.” We could discuss the pros and cons of social media for days. For me, this statement goes beyond that and precedes the creation of the smart phone.

My comfort zone has always been on the other side of the social hive. Quietly working. People can be kind, loving, welcoming and encouraging. This is not an attempt to cast a negative shadow.

To be an extrovert is not in my nature. The practice of listening and finding comfort in the slow moments tends to be a welcome home for my soul.

Oh, by the way, playing blistering loud sludge metal is also the world I thrive in. Less words, more action. Cathartic. More art, less other stuff…

We went off track for a second. Let’s pick back up with the next day.

There was a serious consideration to work on some vortex type of background or possibly a rainbow effect. The more my imagination went to alien worlds and chaotic devastation, the perspective pulled me back down to ground level. The idea of an ant hill or small mound felt right.

My process has made one thing known to me. It feels like there is an energy that comes and goes. A time and place. Perhaps it relates to astrological cycles. Not sure where it comes from but understand that moving on generally changes my energy and it is very unlikely that this page will feel the pen cross its face ever again. That is not always definitive but wanted to include one more element before turning the page, if that be the case.

Something slim and almost transparent kept pushing in my thoughts. That rainbow or maybe a touch of chaos. Mostly, it was focused on the idea of moving upward. Something that would direct energy and possibly contradict what we see already. The wilting flower felt right.

After completing the work, it occurred to me that there was a cycle of life theme shown in the work. Unintentional but present. A birth, vibrant life and withering death concept. An arc shown from one side of the page to the other. Could it be subconscious or a happy accident? Either way, that realization made me extremely happy and brought a sense of peaceful transition to the page.

As I began to assemble this section it quickly became overwhelming. Instead of sharing everything, this section will showcase a few of my miscellaneous daily sketches.

We did it! Finally broke ground on a new pack of travel size sketchbooks. Purchased a pack of 12 this week with the intention of having something to carry on the go.

It was my guess that it would take much longer before actually diving into one of these. I tend to stick to a consistent pattern of repetition. To my surprise, it only took a week.

Playing catch with the pup and scratching some ink on the page while he stops to catch his breath. Together, we managed to work through the first page on our lunch break.

Play Catch and Sketch | Page 1: Saturn 🪐

… is this the end? 

~ Bobby / Monuments in Ruin

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