Tag: PocketSketchbooks

  • Finding comfort in the uncomfortable

    A wider view of my early-morning drawing setup on a crocheted blanket. My black pencil self-portrait sits open in a small homemade pocket sketchbook beside a short yellow Blackwing pencil. Behind it is a tray with a round wooden-framed mirror reflecting part of my face and glasses, a green teapot, an orange Stanley mug of tea, and a small ceramic jug.

    At the moment, the act of drawing isn’t a comfort to me; it’s more of a compulsion. However, there are ways that I draw that can add comfort to the act.

    Today, I reached for one of my familiar homemade pocket sketchbooks and drew with an old and rather weather-beaten Blackwing 3.

    As autopilot took over and I began to draw the face in the mirror, there was a definite sense of “ahh” that softened the usual anxiety around making the first marks on the page.

    Close-up of a black pencil self-portrait drawn across an open homemade pocket sketchbook. The drawing shows my head and shoulders, with large round glasses and a patterned top. The fold of the sketchbook runs horizontally through the middle of the face. A short yellow Blackwing pencil lies beside the sketchbook on a crocheted blanket.