My sketchbooks. I’ve kept sketchbooks for over twenty years. In them, my heart, hand and eye fall on the outer world and my interior world without discrimination.
In my sketchbooks language meets image, my id finds free expression, my eye for beauty is given free rein. My sketchbooks are inclusive, uncensored. Without them, I’m a dry creekbed. No water. No juice. No flow.
Here are a few sketchbook studies for the Hungry Ghost/Oni pieces. Allowing words to flow—stream of consciousness—loosens the image-making. There’s a back and forth. Word-image. Image-word. Poems are often born here.
To give an idea of the scope of the sketchbooks, I’ve included a sketchbook drawing I did in the same time frame as the Hungry Ghost/Oni entries. This drawing has a finished quality other sketchbook work often lacks.
Seeing it brings back the moment of creation. As I drew, the stunning beauty of the persimmons hanging from the tree in the side yard grabbed my hand, eye and heart to create the entry that reflects both the natural beauty of the persimmons on the tree and the deep resonance the fuyu persimmon has in Japanese culture.
My sketchbooks are the crucible in which my inner world and the outer world meet without conflict or judgment. How do you house the many facets of your universe?
