The lockdown sketchbook started at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Typically my sketchbooks are my most prized possessions, they catalog my life and I use them to transport myself back to the moment. However I chose to explore some of the darker feelings about processing this time in my life. Looking around my home I began to find narratives in small moments and objects I’d identify with -- the gesture of exhaustion in a sparkle unicorn or defeat in a leftover crust of pizza.
I ripped the labels off my grocery order and pasted it to most of the pages inside each it read: GIVES 8/9, etc. At the time my feeling of overwhelm, as I had been pushing myself beyond what I was capable of. The “Gives” labels and this sketchbook gave me a way to express some of the more difficult moments in our experience in quarantine.
When my sons see this book, I hope they don’t remember the fear and anxiety surrounding this pandemic -- I hope they remember the moments in between, the laughter and love the backyard birthday parties despite the restrictions. I hope they know just how much I love them. That I would give them all that I possibly can.
The Lock down, Sketchbook 2020
Sketchbook 2020-2021
Sketchbook 2019-2020
I am never without my sketchbook and a favorite pen and I am never more focused, calm or at peace than when I am drawing and making art.
I have been lucky enough to have had mentors who have shaped the way I see the world. The late Jeffrey Fisher molded my craft and me personally. He taught me to look at my subject and to trust what I see and through that process taught me to trust myself. As an art educator, I aspire to carry those lessons on through my own students, helping them find confidence and develop their own voice through art.
All images © Christine Kane Stevens. Please do not use without permission.