MY MISSING SKETCHBOOK

Ten years ago I purchased a small, spiral sketchbook and used it to teach a unit on experimentation.  I took a quick photo of myself and then used that same image on every page of the sketchbook.  The challenge was to use different media, approaches, styles, what-have-you on each page.  I told my students to do the same on at least three pages of their personal, graded sketchbooks.

The whole idea of this experiment was to push to explore lots of media and to sample lots of different styles and techniques.  It also meant that neither I nor my students had to worry about what to draw but rather how to draw it.  I used markers, ink, colored pencils, oil pastels, soft pastels, ink transfers, collage - you name it.

I had over half my book filled with some fun and some poor experiments and I loved this book.  I got it out each fall and used examples from it not only for the experimentation unit but also when we started new mediums.  It often rested on the tray under my classroom's dry erase board.

At the conclusion of this school year, I couldn't find my little sketchbook.  When I closed up my classroom, I searched everywhere and couldn't locate it so I decided that like a lot of my stuff, it had probably been carried back home and was now lost in my disorganized, messy studio. 

I cleaned out my studio this past week and never discovered my book.

I can't imagine a student took it since it is filled with one picture of me over and over again and I can't bear to think it might have been discarded but either way - it's missing and I'm terribly sad about it.  Today I remembered that long ago I scanned some of the pages and posted them on an ancient myspace account page.  So here's all that's left of my treasured, little book. 

If you see it out there, somewhere lost in the cosmos - please bring it back home.  I think you will recognize the owner. *sniff*