I did not touch my sketchbook until March of this year, once we wrapped up our big season at work. Within that month and having time to breathe, I ended up drawing a good bit in cafes and coffeeshops, and a bit from home. My sketchbook continues to be a place where I draw from life, as it’s a fun and active practice, where I can focus on and record the present and what’s in front of me.

Places I’ve drawn so far in 2024:

Ines in UES

Texas

Boston

Along the East River in NYC

Ariston Floral and Coffeeshop by Union Square

My desk in the office, Midtown

Starbucks Reserve by Empire State Building

Texas

Boston

East River in NYC

Williamsburg

Journal entries with Jesus, reading the Bible

So far in 2023, these are sketches from life in NYC. I sketch when I’m alone and relaxed, enjoying my favorite spots in the city, which includes: Central Park, Bryant Park, Union Square, and coffeeshops. I always draw from life and don’t super care to sketch otherwise, because I enjoy the challenge of recording information LIVE.

I use various ink and marker pens, brush ink pens, watercolor, highlighter, acrylic paint, etc. all in my Moleskine.

Drawings from life in NYC and Paris.

Ideation and sketches for artworks.

In the summer of 2022, I visited Paris for 10 days, staying with my friend Sam and her husband Steven. I had visited Paris for the first time back in the winter of 2016 during my study abroad program, where we took field trips from Provence to all of the major cities. Just during those 5 days in 2016, we covered so many museums and monuments!

So with this trip, I didn’t feel the need to climb the Eiffel Tower or Arc d’ Triomph again. I just wanted to visit and live in the city, relax. I went there with the purpose to slow down and spend time with Jesus, as well as try to draw in my sketchbook every day.

It was so funny, because I could recognize streets and cafes, certain pieces and sections of museums, based on sketches I had made the 6 years prior! Drawing something really is research and analysis, and so many memories came back to me! I was sketching in my moleskine sketchbook and journaling the days in my journal to take note of all of the places I went!

I’m sure that I’ll visit back again in the future. :)

This year, I did not make much personal artwork. Toward the end of the year, I started researching and sketching for a large intaglio piece “Glory”.

LOL this was a rough year. I started the year drawing a lot of things for my “Calendar of Things”, under my illustration tab. Otherwise, I made a few sketchbook pages but was primarily sewing or doing print-making from home.

First year living in NYC! I moved to Brooklyn on December 31st of 2018, so there’s a lot of exploring to do… The sketchbook shows me drawing from life in coffee shops, botanical gardens, parks, and squares. Otherwise you see me ideating and working on new printmaking pieces.

Mixed media in a 5” x 8” moleskine.

This is my 5”x8” Moleskine filled primarily with sketches from life. It followed me through botanical gardens and a few paint sessions during the winter to the streets and coffeeshops of NYC when I was there for a week in October.

mixed media: brush pen, pen, ink, colored pencil, craft paint, watercolor, collage

January2018-December2018

This is my 8.5x11" Moleskine sketchbook (showing 11"x17" spreads), showing my last two quarters as a Senior at SCAD, which then trickles into the post-graduation life and feeling like a freshman in the adult world and having time to reflect on it a bit.

Mixed media: graphite, ink, marker, colored pencil, watercolor, craft paint, paper scraps, etc.; 2017

I started this 5x8.5" Moleskine sketchbook at the tail end of my stay in Milwaukee, WI, in August 2016 and followed my to Chicago for a short bit, back home in Texas, back to school in Savannah, a hurrication to Atlanta and up the East Coast, and back home in Texas again in December.

I used mixed media of various pens, ink brushes, craft paint, colored pencil, airplane tickets and luggage tags, and toned paper.

August-December 2016

While studying abroad in the Southern France in Winter 2016, I used several moleskine sketchbooks to record my surroundings of the countryside villages and major cities that we visited. Included are also notes from my 'Treasure of Provence' course.

graphite, ink, conte, watercolor, and colored pencil

While studying abroad in France in Winter 2016, we made a field-trip to Paris for five days, and I filled a tiny Travel Moleskine making studies from life mostly. I went to Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Saint Chapelle, Musee de Cluny, Musee d' Orsay, Centre Georges Pompidou, The Louvre, Musee de l'Orangerie, Versailles, the train station, as well as cafes and bistros for meals.

ink, watercolor, colored pencil, gel pen; 7 x 5" spreads; February 2016

While studying abroad in the Southern Provence of France in Winter 2016, I used several moleskine sketchbooks to record my surroundings including the villages: Saighon, L'isle Sur La Sorgue, Gordes, and Bonnieux

ink, watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil

While in college at SCAD in one of my minor classes under the Fibers department, I took a dye class. We focused on using chemical dyes with different techniques and fibers. I learned how to measure and make dye solutions, apply, use resists, and tested the differences between fabrics. I really enjoyed hand-painting fabric. This is a just a portion of the work that I created, and it’s fun to look back on it!