Last week I suggested that drawing can help map a path for you. Drawing can also show you were you have been. The images in this post come from Books 9 and 10 of the MeetMeat journals. The 10 books span nearly a decade and they trace an evolving sociocultural time and an evolving relationship to the practice of drawing.
The political climate in the U.S. radically changed in 2016 and it seemed more urgent to make work that addressed that. I was on Twitter way too much and my pages were echoes of some of those heated spaces.
At the same time as the political world was in turmoil, the push for online learning was putting pressure on studio-based learning. Meetings were not fitting into the journal.
As the journals became more outwardly engaged, they became more consciously illustrative.
The ‘Cowboy’ piece was an audition for a regular column illustration for Texas Monthly. The journals were now feeding illustration and they became more part of the job.
Drawing while travelling has been something I have done since I was 10 years old. My Florence, Mexico and Japan sketchbooks are precious to me. Two examples of my approach to travel journaling, capturing faces on different trains in Europe.
I turned the last page on the MM journals 5 years ago. This journey through the books has inspired me and now enough typing…a ballpoint pen awaits.
