The Fabriano Classic Artist's Journal

In October, 2003, my wife bought us each a 6 1/4" X 8 5/16" sketch book. 192 pages of a very nice, slightly toothy Fabriano drawing paper. Cartiere Milani Fabriano was founded in 1282, in Fabriano, Italy and is the oldest paper mill in Europe. They are credited with inventing the process of embedding watermarks in paper and gelatin sizing to make paper more receptive to ink and paint and more stable as a medium for documents. I could mention at this point that my wife and I share a delight in the texture, weight and feel of a really good paper.
Fabrianlo makes some of the best.


The vary first thing I did was draw a title page. After that I was a little hesitant to draw in it. It invites sketching. Doodling even, yet I didn't want to sully the pages with - Just anything.

Recently, though I have been taking the book with me every where I go and drawing in it if I have some time on my hands. This started when my wife was working late and I'd drive downtown or to the bus stop to pick her up. I'd draw what ever was in front of me while I waited. I began to carry a variety of drawing supplies as well.

I try to do a drawing a day in it. In reality I manage 3 or 4 a week. More so since I started going off during my lunches to draw.

There Were Fault Lines In The Electromagnetic Field.

There were fault lines in the electromagnetic field.

You could map them out following a sequence of Lorenz graph plots, spanning vast periods of time. They would show up in weather patterns and earthquakes. They would show up in crime statistics, unspeakable atrocities, wars, UFO and Virgin Marry sightings. Pins on a map of natural and man-made disasters. Boulders under a fast moving stream revealed only by turbulent disturbances in the current.

Finding that pattern was next to impossible. Once found though, tracing a line forward would inevitably take the observer to a sweet spot - A precise set of coordinates where, as with finding the the stone in the stream, if you caefully trace a line back up-stream, you may find the precise place and time where you can drop a leaf and know, from any distancer, it will go neither to the left of a sand bar nor the right, but run aground like an unlucky sailor. The art is in knowing where to look, and when. The science is in narrowing the range of probabilities and tracing the line back as far as possible.

These Spots are active.

I Have Seen the Enemy's Weapon And It Is A Fuzzy Photograph

... Which means, what? It was a line from a story I wrote many years ago. Something sureal about it. I liked that. Still do. I no longer have the story. Just the line and a fuzzy recollection of a "B Street" and a plant with machinery inside that rattled windows in surounding run down, turn of the century industrial buildings, and the protagonist was always threatening to blast the listener. The fuzzy photograph is a sort of vague memory and not a partucularly valued one at that. At least not by most.



I'm not sure where to go with this Blog.
Stories/photos/drawings? Maybe all.