Sketchbook Inspiration

Double Page Spread from Prendergast Sketchbook

Every year I resolve to be more faithful in my sketchbook practice.  This year, I have fueled enthusiasm for my resolution by revisiting another artist's sketchbook--one that was kept by Maurice Prendergast around 1899.  I happened on this little treasure in a used book store, and couldn't resist bringing it home.  It's an exact reproduction of the actual sketchbook kept by Prendergast.  (The original has been donated to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts).  My book lay fallow for a while, but when I eventually delved in, I was delighted.

From Prendergast Sketchbook, 1899

The pages in the Prendergast book are a delight of color and motion--as the accompanying material says, "fleeting impressions of...women  in holiday garb...the edge of the sea, sunlit parks and woodlands....gay parasols over extravagant bonnets".  The Gilded Age, indeed!  The book has both watercolors and pencil drawings.

Interestingly, a number of the watercolors were painted on separate sheets, and afterwards attached to the pages of the sketchbook.  I felt a kinship with Prendergast when I learned that--it sounded like something I might do, rather than plunging right into the sketchbook itself.  Was he cautious about wasting pages of the sketchbook on drawings that didn't work out?  Did he choose the watercolors to attach to the sketchbook because they were the most accomplished (leaving out the rejects, so the book would be pretty)? Or did he choose them because they were seeds of ideas for further paintings, and he wanted to keep them front of mind, and close at hand?

Nevermind the answer to those questions.  The important thing is the practice of keeping the sketchbook. I did some further research online, and was especially inspired by Prendergast's sketches from Paris, like the top image in this post.  I'm planning a trip to Paris this year, and the sketchbook will definitely go with me.  Mine may never be part of a museum collection, but it will still be a treasure to me!

Happy New Year!

 

Some things bear repeating, so please indulge me with this post, much of which I wrote a few years back.  The New Year is the time when everybody focuses on goals and improvement. It's easy to make resolutions to improve our skills, or our productivity.  But every serious painter knows the hard truth: there are many stumbles on the path to improvement, and you must be willing to fall, and then pick yourself back up, and start over. Progress can be sporadic (and that's an understatement). Many hours must be put in. Courage and perseverance are key.

I reflected on this truth while reading an article that discussed how babies learn to walk. Toddlers learning to walk are so determined that they travel the length of about eight football fields in ONE HOUR. During that hour, they fall an average of 30 times. It takes 2.6 million steps for them to become proficient at walking. As the article notes, a failure rate like this would be deeply discouraging (the article even said "catastrophic") for an adult trying to learn a new skill. 

Toddlers persevere in learning to walk because faster, hands-free mobility is thrilling to them.  Adults persevere in our endeavors because mastery of a new skill is nirvana. 

Toddlers also teach us that learning is not linear.  They often start to walk, and then revert to crawling for a while. Their progress is U-shaped.  In other words, when learning a new skill, we often get worse before we get better.

Another important lesson is that infants learn best "when operating near the limits of their current skill level."  The takeaway for the rest of us is clear:  Always be "at the edge of what you can't currently do."  

 "Rich Mahogany"

14 x 14 Oil on Linen

(c) Lesley Powell 2022

I've written about the creative process before, and the example of toddlers learning to walk reinforces some of the notions I explored then. It's a nice concrete example to keep in mind as we start the New Year.  Yes, it's frustrating to be at the edge of what you can't currently do--but oh, the rewards are great when you can push that boundary a little bit further!  Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023!