Facing facts
To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. William Blake - Auguries of Innocence I have been reading...
Why?
Danny, The moment you get up to get your sketchbook to draw, why do you do it? What makes you want to make a sketch your sketchbook? Do you do it for you or does knowing other people will...
2006 in retrospect
How I packed a busy year with art experimentation.
What if:
Some dreams and plans for the perfect online creative community
Through a Glass Brightly
On getting reading glasses at 45
Thursday
Too hot not to cool down
Life without drawing is bad. And drawing without life is bad too.
You suck. But enough about you.
Should you care about others' opinions? How much? A lengthy and popular discussion ensues.
I do it 'cause it's trendy.
Why is journaling so popular these days? I take on the topic.
Creeping down the Promenade
The effect of globalization on the landscape and how we draw it.
On drawing from photos
An exploration of the effect photographs have on my brain and eyeballs.
My Conversion
Dear W_____: First of all, thanks for your note and, secondly sorry, for the delay in my response. Your words were quite important and I wanted to give them some time to think of proper response. I have looked...
TCL: Supplementary Material, I: Roz
The first installment of a series on "Stuff that didn't make it into The Creative License"
The Magic Mailbox
Over the past month, I have been so excited to go through the mail. Almost every day, nestled among the Christmas catalogs, there'd be a special envelope or two -- painted, calligraphed, covered with rubber stamps, all responses to...
New Year's Resolution
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world".- Gandhi New Year's Day. It's a good time for stock-taking, for self-appraisal. With each change one makes in oneself, one see more changes yet to be made....
Dibujo en México*
Notes from my trip to Mexico and some thoughts on travel journaling.
Danny's not got a brand new bag
Thursday, 8:10 a.m. Getting ready to leave the house and start the frigid, two-and-a-half-mile walk to my office, I suddenly realize I don't have the bag I use to tote my pens, paints, and my journal. I feel my...
Between the covers
A tour of my brand new book and some early reviews. If you like this site, journaling, drawing, art, etc, you will like this book. If you want to jumps start your creativity, please read on.
Having faith in Brooklyn
A visit to the Beerhorsts, a family of artists living in Brooklyn.
Pens of the Moment
These days, I have quite a nice little arsenal of pens (here each presents a self-portrait), and they are influencing how and what I draw more and more. First off is (1) my trusty nib holder. It's a General's...
Childish things
Thoughts on why we lose our childhood creative impulses and love of making art.
Going to van Gogh
On Friday, Jack and I headed up to the Met to check out the The van Gogh drawing show.
Art class memories
My memories of the art classes I took as a child in three countries
Perfect storm
So far this millennium has been a strained and sweaty passage. As the moorings are loosened, it seems that any and everything could unravel. A terrorist attack a half a mile and four years away, still feels like it...
Drawing fire
I wrote about Steve Mumford last year when his work was only available on Artnet. Now he has published a sumptuous book collecting all of the watercolors and observations he made during his visits to war-torn Iraq. He told...
My perspective on perspective
School's back on and NYU students wander through my neighborhood, clutching new books and pencils. Quite often, I see some of them set up in the park, preparing to draw Washington Square arch. It's a beautiful landmark, and I've...
Jack's deck
Of all sports, I think I like the aesthetics of skateboarding best. I like the graceful gymnastics of top level boarders. I like the come-as-you-are aesthetics of their (un-)uniforms. I like the exhuberant thrashing and driving basslines of their...
Clarification
I've been following a discussion on the Everyday Matters group and it has gotten my wheels turning. The talk has been about the utility of specific drawing assignments suggested by others, whether there's really utility or purpose to everyone...
Roman snapshots
This wonderful building is on the corner of my block. It sits on top of its own little hill, surrounded by gardens. I pass it most days and finally took the time, on two separate occasions, to...
Chicago on four hours' sleep
I am posting this from my room in Rome, still fairly jetlagged but eager to get out there tomorrow and start drawing. Meanwhile, here are some journal pages from the last few days while I...
Slow=Know
Basic advice to someone who draws but wants to do it better.
Catch of the day
Joe's second mouse....
The Art Spirit
“Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself." — Robert Henri I have always been...
Collaboration isn't just for the French
I am writing this on a flight to Los Angeles where we are going to shoot the first five commercials for the campaign I began last summer. It was July 27th when I stood at a urinal on 22nd...
Chillin' with Dylan
Last week, I was hit by a sniffling cold midday. I spent the last few hours of the workday back at home, in bed with tea and Bob Dylan's new memoir. By the next morning, I'd bounced back and...
like father, like son
A few days ago, this drawing arrived from my stepmother, Sue. It was drawn by my father when I was about three, around the time my parents were divorced. Many of these objects are things of my mum's. I...
Books I can remember reading this year
Drawing Inspiration Back To The Slaughterhouse - Ronald Searle Carnet De Voyage - Craig Thompson. David Gentleman’s Britain David Gentleman’s Coastline David Gentleman’s India...
J'aime bien Paris
We had a terrific visit to Paris over Thanksgiving. We arrived (via Frankfurt) on Thursday morning and spent the day in a bit of a jet-lagged fog (I can't sleep on planes) but did quite a lot of drawing....
Paper skies
The sky is white today. I walk under it some twenty blocks one way, then back, looking up most of the way. Fifth Avenue is lined with 19th century buildings that are generic at street level, each defined by...
Notes from a conversation with Julie Dermansky I
Julie Dermansky: Journal page - European monumental architecture Julie is one of my favorite artists and she has always been a huge source of inspiration and encouragement to me. She is so committed to making art and has a lot...
Summer Time Blues
Memories of weird summer jobs I've had from the slaughter house to the White House.
I contain multitudes
What is identity? How does art define and shatter it? An essay that's a little philosphical, a little funny, and plenty weird.
Jerusalem Journal I
I have just returned from a few days in Jerusalem and over the next week I shall doll up and dole out the journal I kept there. As my writing can be a little tough to read, I have transcribed...
Homeless Journal #1
Curtis has been living on the street for over a year. He tells me he can do any sort of work if he's just given instructions and left to do the job. He doesn't like it when people hover...
Serendipidity do dah
When folks undergo what, for lack of a less gooey term, I'll call a creative reawakening, they often experience a surge of synchronicity. Opportunities bounce into their laps. Like minded people just show up. Connections are made, sparks fly,...
Living well through bad drawings
When some people see an illustrated journal, they say, "Wow, that's great. I could never do that." With some coaxing, they may be persuaded nonetheless to give it a try. Others say, "Wow, I'm going to do that." And...
Inspirational Journal: Muriel Foster
This is one of my prized possessions. In fact, I prize it so much I repeatedly give it away and then go hunt for a new copy. Muriel Foster(1884-1963) started keeping this diary in 1913 whenever she went fishing...
Art supply porn
I didn't even know I had a great aunt Greta (twice removed). But I was happy to take the call from her lawyer, the executor of her estate. Now I am the lucky owner of a 5,000 square foot...
Why do I do it?
The story of how and why I started drawing again and starting this blog and writing books and all that stuff.
Notes on notes
Doing my homework for color theory class this week, I discovered I had made the sort of thing I had always admired. It's a great feeling , to look at your own work, and say, "Hey, that's how you...
Jammin' good with Weird and Gilly
So I've mentioned here before that Jack, my boy, 9, good, handsome, smart, got into his skull that he just had to become a rock 'n' roll drummer and, despite my attempts to dissuade him, has been taking lessons...
My theory. Theory #1, that is mine.
When I was about nine, I developed a theory. What if everybody actually sees very different colors but calls them by the same names. Like, I look at a tree and see its leaves as a color I call...
Anatomy of anatomy
The profound pleasures of drawing nekkid people.
Pigeonholes
Man, the name-giving animal, is in rare form these days. We're just stalking the planet, hell-bent on slapping labels on others, stuffing them into compartments, and spewing vast generalities about things we don't understand well enough. Religion is dividing the...
Party invitation
Let's talk to each other! One of the wonderful thing about having an online journal has been the dialogue I've had with people posting comments. But I would prefer it if the series of dialogues turned into a gigantic cocktail...
The Open Book
I am a member of a wonderful community called "Artist Journals 2" which is currently conducting a discussion on whether or not one should share the contents of one's illustrated journals with others. I had to chime in: I'm a...
Class 5H
Dear Class 5H, Hazelwood Junior School, London, UK: I am so very happy to hear that you enjoyed my book, Everyday Matters, and that you are now keeping journals of your own. I was blown away to see how...
How are you?
Today my hypochondria is in remission but I never know quite when it will flair up. I was a little light headed yesterday and assumed I had internal bleeding, a cerebral aneurism, a tumor. Today, I feel fine but I've...
My Name is Mud
Alfred Hitchcock meticulously planned out every shot in his films long before he set foot on the set. Then he waddled on with precise storyboards, his angles, lenses, lighting directions all completely worked out. Most artists aren’t so controlled....
If you're so great, why aren't you rich?
(Drawings done while watching a little over an hour of network TV)These are dark times for the nexus of art and commerce. Every industry that tries to make a buck from others’ creativity is moribund or in flames. The music...
Ideas and the end of the world
In nature, we organisms have a tendency to seek balance. We want to adapt to our environment and develop the most efficient life style based on the resources around us. You and your descendants will change in order to...
Help from Roz
Today's going to be a rare day. I am going to introduce you to one of the most inspiring journal artists in the world. Roz Stendahl is the master of many media: the image above is from a journal for...
Dear Danny:
I've been lucky enough to get lots of email from visitors to this journal. These are some of the interesting questions I received over the past month: When did you start to draw? I mean, did you ever draw when...
Bookbinding 101
I have bound many of my journals myself. I learned how at a fantastic place called The Center for Book Arts, here in Manhattan. It was a lifelong dream come true, learning to make my own hard cover books. I...
Patti's problem
Patti and I were discussing her journals and scrapbooks a few days ago and, for once, I was able to give her some useful advice. Her dilemma: she collects all sorts of clippings and pictures and cards and souvenirs and...
Ars longa, vita brevis
Every biographical movie about an artist depicts its subject as some sort of dysfunctional weirdo. Picasso - a woman hater. Van Gogh - a psychotic suicidal. Basquiat - a drug addicted suicide. Pollock - a drunken suicidal. Warhol -...
Belongings.
Maybe it was going to the James Rosenquist retrospective at the Guggenheim but I've been feeling sort of sick of materialism. Everything we encounter, it seems, is in some insidious way aimed at making us burn to buy something,...
Trust or bust.
In 1975, Keith Jarrett recorded the best selling solo piano album ever, The Koln Concerts. What’s even more extraordinary is that the music is purely improvised. Jarrett had spent the day feeling jet lagged and under the weather, he...
Seeing bread
Drawing is seeing. If you can see, you can draw. But can you see? Let's see. Looking is a language. Look: a dog, a tree, a car, a man. We apply labels...
All I Really Need To Know I Learned From Drawing:
Always carry a pen. The best way is to be still. Everyone can do it, except those who say they can't. Forget your eraser. There are no mistakes. Only lessons. Don't do it for fame. Do it for you. Don't...
Never be bored.
My grandmother used to say, "Only stupid people get bored." In our family, this threat was the ultimate insult. Still, we all end up in situations that are tedious - but your journal can be your salvation. Instead of drinking too much bad coffee, reading a crummy novel or watching sports highlights on Headline News, look around for the particular in the generic environment of a typical airport. It can turn a dull business trip into an adventure.
Dealing with turds
Advice on how to contend with the 'worst 'of your creations.
A record of my exploration into all aspects of drawing, illustrated journaling, creativity, and the inspiring aspects of art. By the author of "Everyday Matters," "The Creative License", and "An Illustrated Life" and other books.