6.30.2006

SKETCHBOOK 2, page 2


OK, since I missed posting yesterday due to working a 19 hour day, and the first two for today were the cover and title page, I'm gonna go ahead and put up page 2, the first page of this book with any actual content.

So get ready for some pretty absurd poetry, folks. Just to give you a frame of reference, I was heavy into Beck, Kerouac, and Tom Stoppard at the time. I loved poetry, but I also thought it was mostly way too serious, so a lot of the stuff I was writing here is pure nonsense, with a lot of emphasis on stream-of-consciousness word generation and the basic aesthetic of the sounds of the words. Plus, some of the lines I came up with just made me laugh, and I was enjoying reading them to my friends in a very enthusiastic manner. It was funny.

But, as you'll see as we continue, it wasn't all pure jive. I was, from time to time, making an attempt to express something. Sometimes I struck a balance, other times I was heavy handed on one side or another. But there are a lot of poems in this sketchbook. Maybe almost as many poems as there are drawings. It was definitely my biggest "poetry phase," which eventually transitioned into more of a songwriting phase once I started recording music in college. But that's later. Here we are right at the beginning.

SKETCHBOOK #2, page 1


By the time I had filled up Book One, I had begun to realize that the sketchbook itself as a medium was something I'd be interested in for a long time. I was seeing the possibilities of each book being a cohesive work in itself, that I would certainly want to save and share later... So here I am giving this book a title page.

It's kind of funny because I was trying to say "Hello, my name is Spanish" in Spanish, but I was taking French at the time, so I pretty much just guessed, and ended up with what you see here.

SKETCHBOOK #2, front cover


This, as you can see, is a slightly different format than book 1. It's a little smaller, and has ring binding, which made it more portable and also easier to open and lay flat. I loved this set up for a long time. I think my next three or four sketchbooks are basically this same book, but then I moved on to a larger size. Anyway, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves...

6.28.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, in it's entirety


Here's the Flickr set - check it

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 69


this is the last page of my first sketchbook! It's undated, but I'm guessing it was around the end of May, 1997, since the drawing of the front of my truck was 5/6/97. I was starting the summer before my senior year in high school. Wild times to come.

Well, for those of you who have been checking in from time to time, I hope you're enjoying this project so far. I've got a lot more books full of drawings, so keep coming back. Also, feel free to leave feedback, comments, or snide remarks of any kind if you feel so inclined.

As promised, I will be creating a Flickr set of the entirety of Sketchbook #1. Check back soon for the link!

6.27.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 68

6.26.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 67

6.25.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 66


I was walking around downtown fairhope one afternoon, and I saw a painting in the window of the gallery next to page and palette. It was pretty abstracted, but I think it was a group of figures sitting around a table at a party.

What really struck me, though, was a prominent figure, a woman, beautifully simplified to a few elegant angles. Her dress was a solid, unadorned plane of black, and with a few sparse lines, her figure was suggested in a really gorgeous way. It was kind of a small detail of the painting, but it struck me, and it was definitely my jumping off point when I started this drawing.

In retrospect, I see this as a point where I was beginning to recognize the importance of composition and line quality, and the potential beauty of restraint.

6.24.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 65

6.23.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 64


I think I did this during P.E.

6.22.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 63


again with the funky croutons.

6.21.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 62


This is an attempt at a t-shirt or flyer design for my band in high school - this is apparently early in our career, possibly the day or week that we came up with the name "Some Funky Croutons," since we dropped the "Some" pretty much right off the bat, and we were thereafter called "The Funky Croutons." I know, it's great.

We practiced in my friend Ben Strout's parent's basement, and they let us paint weird murals on the walls. We had one original song called "10,000 Ugly Idiots" that was basically a surfy instrumental. Our other standards: "Sweet Child O'Mine," the beginning of "Paradise City," the Dick Dale song from Pulp Fiction ("Miserlou," sp?), and "Freebird." We would usually do the intro like it sounded in the real song, but then since we didn't have a singer, I would just solo during the verse parts (I was the lead guitarist,) and then we'd skip ahead to the next recognizable change. Freebird must have been pretty funny to hear from another room. It would just be a minute or two of noodling over the slow chords and then inevitably, one of us would yell out, "Ok, go to the fast part!" which was our cue to jump right ahead to the awesomely intense Freebird jam that would go on for like half-an-hour.

We played one show for an audience: Ben threw a graduation party our senior year and we set up in the backyard. Our class president jumped in and sang Freebird. That was really something.

6.20.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 61

6.19.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 60


Starting to get really influenced by Klimt here, but attempting to translate it into my own thing.

6.18.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 59

6.17.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 58

6.16.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 57


This fantasm was summoned forth by the good wizard mickey ladd.

6.15.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 56


i think this is like beethoven or one of those dudes. by jonathan.

6.14.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, pages 54, 55


Another two-pager - this is my bedroom at 104 Riveroaks in Fairhope. Note the absence of a bed.

6.13.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 53

6.12.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 52

yeah, I'm pretty sure that's Santa and a Genie. I'm pretty sure Karen Carver drew this.

6.11.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 51

6.10.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 50

6.09.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 49

6.08.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 48

6.07.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 47

6.06.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 46


the main thing i remember about this one is that it took me a pretty long time to draw.

6.05.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 45


Ahh... I've been looking forward to posting this one for a while, now -- the responsible artist in this case is the inimitable, irrepressible Jonathan Smith... age 16, likely under the influence of alcohol, too many cigarettes, and a day at the beach.

I love how the lesbian confronts the viewer with her blunt, unapologetic honesty and gushers. Har, indeed.

6.04.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 44

6.03.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 43

6.02.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 42

6.01.2006

SKETCHBOOK #1, page 41


I think this drawing was made in Gulf Shores. I spent a lot of time at and around the beach that spring and summer since Jonathan worked out there and had a place to stay. Good times.

Note the psychadelic right leg (her right) - I was having fun with negative and positive spaces... and especially subverting the viewers expectations. Or maybe I just messed up. (just kidding, I really did do it on purpose.) I actually do still like this drawing quite a lot. It seems like it was pretty well planned and composed, even though it was done pretty spontaneously.