April to August in Review

The last 5 months has been a time of short bursts in my sketchbook, mostly in the morning before the day gets going. The summer has provided a bit more working time which has been lovely. Rather than write a lot about what this all means, I thought I would approach this newsletter with less writing and more images. I hope you are all well!

A Visit to see my old pal Josh Birdsall in Minneapolis revitalized some much need sketchbook practice, which resulted in this mushroom page.

We spent hours revisiting our junior high habits: drawing, catching up, listening to music and checking in on life. Gratitude does wonders for filling the creative bucket. In this photo, Josh is working his usual magic in his sketchbook. This ritual of drawing together has been one of those things keeps me inspired and keeps me making.

Those mushrooms led to more abstract mushrooms and spring led to flower drawings. Forgive the cool color filter on all of these. In the interest of just getting the newsletter out, I’m going with imperfection, a strategy I recommend to anyone trying to get things done. Good enough is just fine sometimes.

Iteration is the name of the game in my sketchbook. Take an image and run with it, draw it again and alter one thing, and then do that over and over again. When I’m in the flow I feel like I’m working on a complicated math problem, trying to get inside of an idea and turn it around.

Working in my sketchbook is especially fantastic because there is no there there, it’s the journey that counts. Sometimes I think, “ooh, I could make a print out of this,” and then that slows things down. That mushroom drawing at the top of this post is a good example. Too much thinking slowed it down and I got a little too focused on the outcome.

These waves were all studies for a tattoo I’ve been wanting to get for a very long time. I didn’t want to design my own tattoo, but I did want to work out the problem first, so I would at least have something to show the tattoo artist. More on that down the line!

Living in the mountains has been fantastic, I truly love it. And, I miss the ocean like never before. This past winter the feeling of claustrophobia caught up to me so the antidote seemed simple: Draw the ocean.

Jess over at Central Vermont Trail Blazers took my logo and turned it into a neat Vermont style camo hat. I can’t tell you how pleasing it is to see folks wear this around town. I wonder if people I don’t know, wearing the hat, think I’m weird for smiling at their head.

I finally made it to Cape Cod! Seeing the ocean was marvelous and visiting The Edward Gorey House, or the Elephant House as he called it was a life long dream. If you are ever in Cape Cod, I highly recommend it!

It’s been on my mind to create a Montpelier print for some time. A way to celebrate the place I love in a magical realistic way. I’m mostly happy with this little piece and will be turning it into prints sometime soon.

Sometimes I get into a design head space. An idea gets in my head and I have to try it out. So I created this retro-public access TV -variant version of the Mountain Tides Studio logo. T-shirt anyone?

20 years ago today at around 2 in the morning, I jumped into the ocean at Shakespeare Beach in England and swam to France. It took 12 hours and 58 minutes and was one of the most fun and weirdest things I’ve ever done in my life. I just made this very quick sketch in my sketch book to commemorate the event. Sometimes 3 minutes is all it takes to celebrate something good.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this little illustration. It was inspired by two things. 1: An island on Squam Lake where there is an island just big enough to contain a single cabin. 2. Beacham Bay, the fictional setting of my comic book Ebb And Flood, which I published many years ago now. I hadn’t visited Beacham in a while so it made sense to take a trip.

OK, that’s all for now. I’m signing off. Thank you all for the support and following my little blog!

Sincerely,

your friend Brian

PS Be creative and go make something right now.

B