January Sketches

I've been filling up my new sketchbook (see the post below this). The papers are of different sizes and varieties, which is more interesting than my usual one-size-fits-all books. I didn't bind in any watercolour paper; but that means that I'm using different media from those which I'm most comfortable with. Which is good.

The first page is small; I did a simple collage, for a title page. You can see two more pages behind it.

Left: two clay birds which live on a table in the drawing room. Right: I saw the Hindi film Dabangg (and liked it. Great music!).

Left: A friend brought a bunch of rajnigandha (tuberoses). Right: Sheru, a beautiful dog who died; and a Puppy brand matchbox.

Left: Collage over a scribbled sketch of mine, which was already on the page when I bound it into the book. Right: a teak root sculpture.

Left: I bound a small book wih pockets for receipts. Photographs of the book with notes. Right: a small page with a stencilled flower. Some text to come later.

Left: the other side of the stencilled flower. Right: a shower faucet that suddenly gleamed at me, all lights and darks, and complicated shapes, positive and negative.

Special Double Extra Thick

I felt the urge to bind a book. I wanted it to be fun, and to allow mistakes. I collected an assortment of papers, in different sizes and shapes. Some of them had my sketches on them, some were printed; most are blank.

I took covers from two old books and cut them to size. I usually cover them with paper or cloth, but this time I left them as they were.

The elephant came from the cover of a bedraggled file folder.

I bound it with Coptic binding, and used eyelets for the first time. As a bonus, the back cover came with a cobra.

It felt like a good thing to do, at the beginning of the year.

January 2

Leaf-dappled sunlight on a fountain: visible / invisible. Quickgold / quicksilver. Fall / strike / rise. Catch me if you can!