“I’m a scavenger” (a start)

Months ago, I signed up for the Arthouse Co-op’s Sketchbook Project. Each participant (there are over 28,000) fills a 50-page Moleskine notebook, working in whatever media he/she wants and working according to their chosen theme. In 2011, all books embark on a traveling exhibition of nine U.S. cities. On the back of each notebook is a unique barcode, so artists can track how many times their book has been “checked out.”

I thought that signing up would be my motivation to get out and draw, but actually blocking out the time—and finding the nerve to start—took a while. I started today, finally, and I feel so out of practice. The theme I picked is “I’m a scavenger.” I like it, but I think I’ll have to take it beyond its most literal meaning (necrophagic creatures) and see what kinds of figurative representations of scavenging I can produce. With St. John as a setting, I should have no trouble filling my book. Its pages will eventually be scanned and cataloged online, but since my blog needed an update anyway, I’m posting the first couple drawings:

(desiccated crab)

(hole-y hermit crab shell)