{"id":558,"date":"2020-03-23T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T08:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/?p=558"},"modified":"2025-12-06T06:49:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T06:49:28","slug":"the-timely-sketchbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/?p=558","title":{"rendered":"The Timely Sketchbook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have always loved the beautiful sketchbooks of other artists, but they have never been a regular thing for me. Mine are usually decades old and half full of loose composition ideas, shopping lists, reading notes, budgets, business ideas and the odd nice drawing of a landscape or portrait. But a proper visual diary of my thoughts, observations and inspirations? Nope, I’ve never had much luck with those. Maybe it is because my thought process is long, but I usually respond to circumstance through my paintings, rather than in bound books of daily sketches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Covid-19 Sketchbook Drawing 1,
Ink on paper,
Debbie.lee Miszaniec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However there is something about the need to respond quickly to the realities of the Covid-19 crisis, that has me revisiting the sketchbook as a way to document and think through both the monumental shift in our daily lives, and the weaknesses in our social and economic systems that this crisis has exposed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Covid-19 Sketchbook Drawing 2,
Ink on paper,
Debbie.lee Miszaniec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To create a painting in response to each question this crisis has raised would leave me behind the curve as each new thought, experience and piece of information displaces the last. A sketchbook seems much more responsive to the circumstance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Covid-19 Sketchbook Drawing 3,
Ink on paper,
Debbie.lee Miszaniec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Considering a journal as opposed to a sketchbook; in this case, I prefer the ambivalence of images to the specificity of words. If I were arguing a position I would write an essay, or perhaps a manifesto. Words can be interpreted or misinterpreted, but it is difficult to hold two, or more, positions at the same time. I enjoy the plurality of the image, where I can simultaneously hold multiple and conflicting positions, turning them over in my head as I create and contemplate the visual analogies I am making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Covid-19 Sketchbook Drawing 4,
Ink on paper,
Debbie.lee Miszaniec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Covid-19 has had an effect on my art practice in showing me the value of the sketchbook. I may decide to use a sketchbook format more often in the future when I want to digest a complex and quickly developing situation in a timely manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Covid-19 Sketchbook Drawing 5,
Ink on paper,
Debbie.lee Miszaniec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For now I will continue to document my thoughts in my Covid-19 Sketchbook. When this one is full I will do a sketchbook tour video (my very first, as you can guess based on my history with sketchbooks) and upload it to Youtube. Make sure to subscribe to my channel<\/a> to catch that upload.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always loved the beautiful sketchbooks of other artists, but they have never been a regular thing for me. Mine are usually decades old and half full of loose composition ideas, shopping lists, reading notes, budgets, business ideas and the odd nice drawing of a landscape or portrait. But a proper visual diary of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69,66,67,68,65],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.onelifefineart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}