Sketchbook Tour of the Artist

or as they say "You don't have to be crazy to work here but it helps".

It is fashionable to have highly rendered moleskin sketchbook pages - painstakingly done.
Very conceptart.org and all those fancy artschools.

Well I just fill mine with little ideas- mostly barely discernable/decipherable.
Admittedly a recurring theme in the decipherable drawing department is "boobies" but what of it?
They're balanced out by all the other monsters and strange little characters just fine.
So here's a few snippets- theres a bunch I'm not showing because they're to do with the Shadow King, and others from an A3 sketchbook I couldn't be bothered stitching together.

Dodgy Life drawings

Part of my drawing recovery plan is to go back to life drawing.
 I have- not as much as I'd like to- but its helping slowly.
I'll admit it doesn't look like it yet....
but I am doing them with a sketchbook on my knee- and I finally finally remembered to bring a rubber this week. Not so much to censor just to save me from moments of pure uncoordinatedness or inattentiveness.
All I need now is to:-
1. Arrive on time- not an hour late and miss the warm up
2. Think about it beforehand and do a bit of study.
3.Think about it while I'm doing it and not about the anzac biscuits  I can smell.

Then I should be sharp and focussed properly.

Little Mates Christmas

Finally finished this book-thank goodness- it feels like all my christmases have come at once as they say.
All the pages still need another 2hrs each to add some more decoration and loving detail....except its out of time and these have to do as is.
 That's the problem - reviewers don't care that I didn't have much time to do these books and I have to compete with people who spend a year on a single book, or a week on a spread
- ah well.
Hopefully it feels cheery enough.
I have to get the next book done in 2 weeks time- or less.
Possibly impossible
 but then the pages can be potentially much simpler and without a cast of thousands.
I guess if I get the next 2 books done as quick as they want them I'll have only 8 books to  go.
8...... 

I had thought to apply for the Pinerolo childrens book cottage  residencies . Well if I want to I 'd better do it today.
Trouble is- it asks how my work will benefit from a residency at this time. How to answer that?
Do I put "I have been working from the same room for three years-any respite from this to save me from the brink of insanity will benefit my work."?
I wish I knew how to write application forms, or grants, or knew what awards existed so i could throw my hat in the ring.
 Looks like it will be august before I can come up for air though.

"Eneavour to persevere."