I was cleaning up in my studio over the weekend and ran across a book of Modigliani’s work. I made the mistake of opening it and before you knew got out my sketch pad inspired by his work. So much for cleaning the rest of my studio!

I’ve been doing my daily sketches for quite awhile now, started off last year in my Moleskine but have switched over to the 9×12 Strathmore Visual Journal-100lb drawing paper. I like the larger size and the paper is wonderful for drawing.

I love the fluid bodies of Modigliani. They are so feminine and graceful. The discipline of sketching every day is just like exercising, flexing and using your muscles helps them to stay in shape. You can sketch anything, anywhere, so there’s really no excuse not to!

This was done a long time ago-I think it was a lesson in a drawing book maybe? I really should be better about dating/labeling. I have some sketches (thanks to my grandma who saved everything) from back in high school.  One of these days I think I might try to gather them all together into one portfolio so I can see the progress from then until now. I wish I’d had the foresight to keep all of them over the years. But, sketches can seem disposable a lot of the time I would sketch onto scraps of paper and not in a journal where it’s easy to keep them. Well there’s no going back to reclaim what’s lost but I can go forward and keep a better account.