Glimmer

The last time we talked about sketchbooks I thought I’d have my newest one out in October! Yes, that’s October 2020.

No two ways about it, I found it very difficult to focus on my own projects this past year. I know I’m not the only one and that’s sort of encouraging but still, not a good feeling. Very often I found myself dragging my heels for reasons I couldn’t articulate.

My calendar of client projects and commissions clipped along but my personal work was slow going. Never quite felt like I was getting ahead with it.

Without the structure of using a convention as a deadline I just kept adding things, too. I’d plan more some more sketches here, another study of this creature there. I mean, that’s not all bad. It’s become my largest individual sketchbook to date!

But no matter how much ground I covered as I dodged between client work, I still felt like the horizon was just as far away.

Ultimately, I found the only way through this one was to let it take it’s time. I just had to walk through it, let the world roll back, and show me the way.

It took longer, that’s for sure. I usually want to get a collection out in the same calendar year as when I start but you know what, these sketchbooks reinforce time and again the singular idea that there’s just nothing like creating work for yourself. Every idea, every page underlines that for me.

It’s simple but easy to forget. I know I have to reminded all the time.

Glimmer is my thirteenth annual sketchbook collection.

This collection gathers the sketches and writings from my personal work throughout 2020. It features a mix of toned paper and white charcoal work alongside sketches, studies, and other finished drawings.

The realm of Glimmer is a refuge; the last surviving sanctuary in a forgotten world of trolls and creatures.