Ohio

I'm in Ohio (at the in-laws). There's a free bedroom here and I've set up shop in it. Upon arrival, this is a perfect free space. Before leaving New York, I packed up all my rulers and an adequate palate of pens and pencils. I am ready to work away (and away from New York for a few days).

I was feeling dystopic before leaving, like life was about suffering, but not anymore. It's amazing what a few miles of asphalt under your tires can do for your well-being. Maybe I'll nap. Grant is playing with the dog. Mike is drinking beer. My drawing notebooks are open and breathing.

Ever since I started doing drawings in the waiting room of my dentist, I've been carrying sketchbooks and pens and pencils with me everywhere. I've been filling them up every free chance I get; at the playground, on the subway and while Grant is at camp. I don't know what took my so long to develop or rather adopt an on-the-go drawing practice, but it really suits my post studio situation.

The daily drawing (also a good way to entertain Grant while at a restaurant or similar environment) is allowing me the possibility to built up my spare parts, which get assembled into more formal works on paper later. Filling notebooks with simple “unstraight line” drawings is also providing me the opportunity to reconsidered color choices and of course, to rework my lines, every page, at every free moment, is an experiment in a new lined space. So I will spend the next few days craving and altering my rulers to fill more pages, trying out new ways to draw and work. Free moments fill pages; free space in Ohio clears the mind.