I’ve written here recently about the fact that I tend to
draw more than paint in the mid-winter months. This has a lot to do with the
light—or lack of it-- in my studio. It might also be a response to a landscape
that seems less about color and more about line, light, and sparse shadow.
This past year I have noticed something new happening in my
sketchbooks. I draw every day, sometimes practicing ideas and techniques,
sometimes rendering landscapes or nearby objects. What has surprised me,
though, is the way people have begun to show up in my sketchbooks. They arrive
as characters, with a back story that reveals itself as I draw. As time goes
by, these characters and stories linger, and I begin to see where they might be
going.
The surprise in this is that I
end up with people and events to write about. I’m finding this a new—and welcome—part
of my writing process.
Below is a selection of some of these visitors. A few I have
already written about; most are waiting in the wings until I finish the current
book, Liam Dutra mystery number five.
-KMB
Sketchbook pages by Kevin Macneil Brown, 2015-2016
