Sketchbook 2017 – The Printing Office of Wolff and Sauer

Sketchbook 2017

This book still exists in my library. It’s a response to Inktober of that year, a 31-day challenge on Instagram for artists of pen-and-ink. It was too late to begin when the Inktoberists did, but I didn’t mind. I did all these with Faber-Castell’s Pitt artist pens, in black and sanguine.

At first, I just wanted to exercise my hand, but eventually I got into the habit of concocting interesting and snarky ideas regularly. I don’t think I was ever locked in to a daily entry, but I reached it at times, and kept it going beyond 31 days, until I filled the book.

I stopped, mostly because it was taking me in a direction I didn’t want to go.

(These are photos taken with various cameras, and I variously prioritized deleting the background and/or the clamps that held the book open. Sorry.)

Hollywood Squares

Chocolate Orange

Ever have one of these?

Guess what I was listening to that day.

Panda & Penguin Chess

This was a challenge from my brother.

Still a good idea.

Argyle Dirigible

I did a series of these in 3x3, bas relief.

Father Seahorse

Who would do his voice?

Sergeant Mountain

Your guess is as good as mine.

Monarch Butterfly

What I was back from, I forget.

How do they translate his babbling into Swedish?

Twenty Seventeen

Excuse the occasional red clip.

Bowling Green Massacre

Who could forget?

How would I look as William Penn?

Magellan's Watch Fob

I got it I got it

tweedle dum ski jumping

From personal experience.

Flamingo Repair

For your broken flamingos.

An invention idea.

From my Snail Week.

Insurance Adjuster

Symmetry Abstract 1

Business Flywheel

Why is it always like that?

Like Flintstones. Only not.

Coffee Table of Books

But why a beer? I forget.

Stuff of Dreams

Back when I'd only get them in bed.

Lent itself to the colors on hand.

Teddys all the way down.

Shortly after he died. I have his book.

Scleraderma Fairy

Sprinkles her dust on my wife sometimes.

Symmetry Abstract 3

Turret TV Camera

I used to draw cameras when I was little. Sandy Becker was always showing them.

Market Harborough

Catholic Converter

Joe BIden? I dunno

You can imagine what was on the news at the time.

When you want to venture beyond the man.

A multitool on my desk.

I did develop this into a linocut.

Alex Jones Chest Tattoo

I just heard of Alex Jones, and thought he was hilarious.

Not Walter White.

New Diamond Cuts

Exeter Half-Timber

From a photograph.

A kitten cuter than this sketch.

Accompanying the fiddlehead crab.

Charlie Sheen had done something gossipworthy.

Carry That Weight

Things were kind of heavy.

George Foreman Grill

All the way down.

Turret Microscope

Playing with things on my desk.

Armstrong Video

A personal memory. Might make a good woodcut.

I thought I was on to something with this. A novel technique.

Paper Core Fencing

Thus was the dulcimer invented.

It's the one they use on all those countryfied wall nicnacs.

Caterpillar Doing Taxes

Either his own, or yours.

Parachuting predicted.

Profound, I thought.

Tim Conway Elephants

Haven't we all seen that?

Acoustic Nirvana

Someone try this.

Sandwich Accelerator

Remember iPods?

For a modern audience.

Perpetualicious!

Someone was offering this as a contest prize.

That's a rough ruff.

It seemed like it was everywhere.

At least I think that's what they are.

get Back to Work

Early self-nagging.

Streaking Snail

Sometimes time seems to go that way.

Blue Playground

Twilight at a nearby playground.

Universe in a Lightbulb

Appointment with Destiny

Symmetry Abstract 5

The year they were tearing down monuments.

Aging Fine Artist

My philosophy as I make this transition.

sboverinflation

A gathering of my fans

Toleration Sign

A less spicy variation is elsewhere.

Before I tasted it!

My first card in what was to be a funny tarot deck.

And it was slain.

Shout it from the heavens.

slippery toadstool

Clysdale Maggots

Mmm, makin' me thirsty.

I don't remember dreaming this.

Probably copied from somewhere.

Symmetry Abstract 4

We have a Tigger from Denise's childhood.

From my Snail Week.

I had the idea to do a bunch of 3x3 art based on my holiday gifts.

Darth Vader Ginsberg

What if they were in a movie together, and got equal billing?

Main Line Doctor Office

A varied clientele.

Leda and the Swan

A modern retelling.

Pretty skimpy sandwich.

Marc Antony? I dunno

Some valid questions.

One of my favorites.

This needs to be made into a woodcut!

Insufficient elbow room.

I have since found out, yes, they do now.

shoestringhouse

I based my 2022 Holiday Gift on this.

Still a good idea!

Knights of the Occasional Table

Try boiling it.

Pray for victory.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Giraffe Necktie

Proof that I came up with this first!

suburban lawns-1

Methane Molecule

The least cuddly thing I could imagine.

From my "in-faux-mercial" series.

Steve Madden Shoe

Still have them. Comfy.

Darvon and Gelato at Niagara

If you know, you know.

Inspiration Keg

Boy, was this prescient.

I still don't get it.

Time Is Running Out

Current Events Rebus

Symmetry Abstract 2

Slogan Free Lawn

For when you're REALLY scared of your neighbors.

Done years later; not in the book.

Something ice cream trucks should try.

Handsy Victorians

Manbun Pineapple

Warrants future exploration.

Face That Launched

A thousand ships.

It's the least you can do.

I wanted to do something you could punch out of a sheet of tin.

I kind of knew that wasn't it.

Turret Telescope

Playing with things on my desk.

Extreme Vesting

Nativity Reunion Show

Too damn many of these things.

Artisanal Toothpick

To your specifications.

Sllllllliding home..

Toward the end.

An infographic of sorts.

For the long draw.

Trumpist Lobotomy

Tame by comparison.

Still a good idea.