I can't remember who.

Someone told me not too long ago that blogging was a good idea. I am dubious, but now that I have more time on my hands, I figure it can't do too much harm. Herein lays the challenge in relying on conventional representations to express ideas. We must all agree on what that initial information must be. So my challenge becomes how do I make succinct little expressions that are accurate and read conclusively to the ideas I want to express?

Sketchbooks are usually visual diaries. Journals for brainstorming, experimenting and developing our thoughts and methods with the end goal being some other project or final piece. I had an art teacher in high school (I cannot remember which one but probably Mrs. Freger) who cautioned us from becoming too attached to the pages of our sketch books. I used to draw very precisely and carefully, always only on one side of each page, rendering still lives and the human figure meticulously. I was so proud of this hard bound book, but when I showed my teacher, she criticized the scores of blank pages and the overly rendered objects within. The ego blows came early, and never seem to cease but I can usually look back to find the lesson inherent in each ache.

In this case, it was a caution to not take myself, or my sketchbook, too seriously. The danger in this being that potential trap of getting stuck between two pages with no room to move. Not to mention, if I can't get off the pages of a book and into a larger space, I will not have the space to grow.

Now I tend not to keep sketchbooks as a general practice any more. Depending on what medium I am working in, I will sketch directly onto the canvas, make a sequence of images until it is right or work in multiple layers. This is a form of journaling I suppose, but I might benefit from rediscovering the practice of keeping a bound space to jot down ideas without being forced to commit to the project before I know what it is, or else covering all the tracks of my process.