The Sketchbook Project

Recently I signed up for the Sketchbook Project run by The Brooklyn Art Library. I thought I was signing up for the 2014 tour and exhibition and that I had plenty of time but signed up for “The Mysterious Maps Tour.” Lo and behold when I signed in on May 1st, I found out the deadline was actually postmark of May 14th. At first I had a defeatist attitude. I was like, “There is no way.” This is a 32 page Sketchbook that has to be filled, with the theme of your choice, (which I actually found out had to be related to maps) and could be rebound or altered in any way but it had to be done and ready to go. I am game for an adventure but that’s a BIG adventure and with my wackiness being what it is, I was not sure my muses were nearly prepared. But I had already planned a theme and already had some of the research done because of some previous art projects that I had completed. I decided to focus on Goddesses from various cultures and pantheons, draw them, and add some information about them, then hand draw maps of the world basically and put in a key as to where each one originated from. I managed to complete the Sketchbook on time, sent it out on the 14th and the USPS confirmed that it was delivered on Thursday the 16th. YAY! Anyway, I learned so much and since so much could not be put into the sketchbook because there was no enough time or room, I have decided to put up information, stories, little tidbits etc for anyone who wants to know about it on my blog as well as the drawings. Some of them came out great, some of them did not. But I did what I could and had a great time. I opted for my sketchbook to be digitized so it will be available to be viewed online in 8 weeks or so and also people who view my sketchbook will get the url to my blog as well so I figured if I put up some more information on here that I wanted to put in there it would be fun. Take from it what you will or skip over it entirely. No matter what your beliefs are, some of the stories are beautiful, some are interesting, and some are just plain funky. Others are common knowledge but it’s nice to pay homage to strong women as well. I am not proselytizing any belief system especially since many of the Goddesses come from varying cultures and belief systems. So take form it what you will and leave the rest. As one of my favorite old surgeons would say at Bon Secours as he was working, “take that and shove it in your phylactery” lolol. God I miss that man. Those of you who worked on med surg before he retired will know who I am talking about if you are reading this.
Rosie