I haven't been in my studio in two weeks. Busy with the jobs. I have been drawing the whole time and now I'm working on a new project. The river project. A can't find the sketchbooks I want for my new project. Leaves one choice. Make my own. Well. maybe with the help of my bud Elena Bouvier. She is my trusted source for all things book. I'm trying to decide what format I would like the drawings to take. Setting up some ground rules for how I will create the drawings and then how the project will be as a whole. 

Today as I thought about the materials I will pack for my trip north to the mountains, I know my studio wherever it is, is a temple. It has a beauty external and internal. It has a stillness that is sublime. It is a place where there is no time.

I started some new drawings today. The experience of starting this drawing has almost convinced me to look at making this series square. I haven't made any square drawings in a while but it seems where they want to go. It's the repetition. Too much in these rectangles. Now I'm waiting for this one to to dry. I'll continue and see what happens but at the same time I will look at what kind of paper I want to use for the square drawings.

I have many unfinished drawings at this point.
I'm patient. Something isn't right. I'll keep looking at them and they will reveal themselves.

I finally began my altered book project. It's been in my thoughts and sketchbook for over two years. My post  process : 9 x 9 new works [ part one] back in 2010 gives a little background. I finally felt I had a way forward. I opened each book to a spread that asked me to ink it. I know this sounds strange but I can't really define all of the reasons why I chose the particular spreads, so I'll leave the reasons out of the process so far.

I actually was able to get to the studio on Sunday. Often I'm so fried from the work week I do all the domestic stuff that day. But this Sunday was different. I hopped on the bus early and was the only rider to my destination; then walked the last mile. That gave me plenty of time to be in my own head.

After I climbed the flights to my third floor studio I was ready to get into my ritual.

Mixed and rolled out ink in my studio.

The temperature had gone up to 88 degrees and the ink was almost not tacky enough to stick to the roller. After getting the graphite ink ready I worked on three new drawings, Happy with the results. But I'm interested in a bit more transparency.I'm glad that I've looked at several new ways to work with materials that can stand up to presentation without being behind glass.

I'm looking at ordering a couple of rubber rollers that cover more area. I want to draw some very big lines.