thumbnail sketches

I love electronics and high tech gadgets, and always have. I’m continuously amazed by what can be done by computers and smartphones-  but it seems like the more you use them the harder it is to get away from them.

I get overwhelmed if I’ve been working a lot on my computer doing art cards and calendars and other business related stuff and like to grab a sketchbook and head to the beach.

I find that the pure simplicity of putting pencil marks on paper gives my mind a rest. I don’t do anything too complicated, mostly what are called “thumbnail sketches”. Quick, loose landscape drawings not much bigger than postage stamps. Later on when I’m working on a large painting, I can refer to them.

Sometimes these lines or shapes will show up in a brush stroke that I find so intriguing that I’ll build my whole painting around it.