The Sketchbook Project…..

 

Some of you have likely heard of the Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, NY and the Sketchbook Project that they sponsor.   Read their blog here to learn more!

Friday evening, my art buddies, Shelia and Thea and I traveled to downtown Portland to view some of the sketchbooks.  The event was held at the Cleaners at the Ace Hotel, just off Burnside, across from Powell’s Bookstore.  I’m pretty sure Shelia and Thea are looking at, and discussing, the cool interior of the building…..there were no small birds or acrobats flying overhead! (LOL)

How this works is…..artists worldwide can purchase a sketchbook, they have a year to fill it out,  they mail the sketchbook full of their art back to the co-op and the book then  tours the country with the team from The Art Co-op.  Portland is one of thirteen U.S. cities the books are visiting plus London and Melbourne.

First thing through the door, you are given a “library card” with a bar code.  You go to the bank of computers, you see pictured in the back of the room and choose, by category or artist, which books you would like to view.  You look at your choices, return it, go back and select two more books to view, it is like a smorgasbord of books, you can go back as many times as you want.

The books I looked at were from the UK or the US, here are a few examples…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the artists were pretty much free to do whatever they wished and use whatever medium they we comfortable with.

After the book smorgasbord we moved on to dessert at…….the new (to Portland) Dick Blick store, just a few blocks away!  Holy Cow! these stores are the Home Depot of art supplies.  Many items are less expensive on line. However, here you save on shipping cost and don’t have to wait two or three days for your supplies to arrive in the mail.

  I bought some new Tombo pens and waxed thread for bookbinding.  Took some time to play with the new pens when I got home, I like! 

What a Fun Girls Night Out!  Thanks, Sheila for driving (even that was an adventure!).

I’ve made a rather last minute decision to link this blog to Julie's What's on your Workdesk Wednesday because I know how many readers Julie’s WOYWW blog has and I would like share with them information on the world tour of the Sketchbook Project.   The Sketchbook Project is traveling the U.S. and could be happening in your area……it is even going to be in London and Lisbon.  You can learn more about show locations and dates by going to the Art House Co-op blog here!  It is worth the trip just to see the variety of books and concepts.

Just so you know, this is what is on my workdesk this Wednesday!!!!