I'm So Not the Pretty Sketchbooks Type

Gov Walz's face reminded me I was thinking about pretty notebooks/sketchbook/visual diaries in July, and weather to start a new project as means to make such a book. It went nowhere as I was outside weeding as much as possible back then.

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Often I wish I were a type of maker who kept pretty sketchbook and visual-diaries. I'm not. I write on backs of receipts and envelopes, and occasionally scribble in notebooks, while saving a bunch of nicer ones for "later". My books are usually filled with words, rough sketches, thumbnails of different sizes and complexities, chronologies, and lists, lists, lists.

Then again I'm not a looking-into-the-past person. I have little useful information in my records, and prefer to reinvent the wheel every time, so even if I managed "pretty" books, chances are I won't revisit them often. (It's the same with seldom revisiting past blog posts; reading past posts is like listening to my own voice on tape.) Occasionally I cull sheets of paper and ceremoniously burn then in the wood burner in winter.

The only real record of my weaving past are my samples; you know those three-drawer wire shelves for vegetables? I have two full of samples.

A tapestry weaver posted a link to this article in FB. These makers are dedicated sketchbook folks, and I was interested in what they had to say, and found them... a little tiresome. I'm never short of ideas and the good ones tend to stay with me without my committing them on paper. Developing ideas; that's where paper comes in handy, but I just jot or scribble in a rush.

If I were to start a pretty book, I could print out drafts and paste them alongside threads and sample swatches, but this sounds like a lot of work for info I'll unlikely revisit. For me it's record-keeping for the sake of the record-keeping. Oh, I am being so negative!

Past records starting 2002, some hard-cull survivors, and doodles, mixed media, and other non-weaving stuff.

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I finished the dreaded 2023 Matisse not-project in last week, dreaded because it was left untouched for half a year. I don't know why I lost enthusiasm, particular the Green Stripe Mme. Matisse. Compared to the earlier Lydias, Mme. Matisse was not a happy face, and it was as if I was channeling M. M's feeling towards Mme. I liked this Lydia disguised as Mme.

If pretty sketchbooks/notebooks are the desired outcome, I could work though a "How to" books and improve/enhance my design skills, perhaps. I brought some out, relishing how I enthusiastically started working on many, not finishing most, and why I didn't like certain books. Many made me feel they may be useful to tapestry weavers and "fiber artists" but not to cloth weavers. That doesn't bother me as much these days; I'll take what I can get out.

Alternatively, I could draw more faces, and since it's July already, I need to stick with it for less than six months if the project doesn't excite. To that end, I printed out Marlow and my favorite Vincent portraits. But nothing jumps out.