The Sketchbook Project

Well, after almost four months of working on it, my sketchbook was mailed off to New York.

For anyone who doesn't know what The Sketchbook Project is, here is the website:
http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject2012
Basically, it's a project in which you are sent a Sketchbook with a theme and then you have to send it back to them completed by a certain date after which, all of the sketchbooks go into a collection that goes on tour, and eventually are added into permanent residence at the Brooklyn Art Library.

I signed up for this project and received my Sketchbook in the middle of October and began working on it immediately. After some problems with the paper that the sketchbook came with (it was very flimsy and deteriorated when I put watercolors on it), I decided to rebind my sketchbook with different types of paper that would allow for more variety in my book. Along with this came the idea to film the creation of the sketchbook and put together some artistic documentation of the process.

After months of working on this book, I finally completed it two days before it needed to be postmarked and sent off. I then began the endeavor of scanning the entire book so I could have a copy of it, which took an extraordinarily long time. Then, I allowed my family to look at the book and give me their opinions and feedback. I then packaged and addressed it, and my mother sent it off for me the next day.

My sketchbook was sent away this past Monday, and since I finished it so close to the deadline, not many people got to see it. So, I began editing the footage I had taken while drawing and painting and I have completed my video.

Also, on a side note, I am very dissatisfied with the quality of video that blogspot supplies, so I have decided to make a Vimeo account, which will include the other videos that I've posted on blogspot.

Anyways, here is the link to the video. The songs used are Walking the Dog by Fun., Daylight by Matt and Kim, and Your Hand In Mine by Explosions In The Sky.

http://vimeo.com/36175008

Parting with the sketchbook wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. I had envisioned that I would fall in love with the art and writing in my book and not want to send it away. But in reality, although I am content with the way it turned out, I am happy to let it go. I realized that in working on it for such a long time, I had funneled a lot of my feelings of the time into it, and in a way it was sort of like an artistic diary. I was glad to let that little chunk of my life become (hopefully) something beautiful that many people will look at and enjoy.