BYE BYE ART LIBRARY

It's been fun blogging about the experience of creatinga sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project 2011 & visiting the Brooklyn Art Library in NYC to see the 10,000 books, including my own, that came in to be part of this extraordinary 'show'!

Look for my sketchbook, RAIN, in the right hand column of this blog. I've made a short video reading & explaining the book.

Hoping to self publish RAIN, a whole 'nother creative project. Keep you posted.

RAIN VIDEO

We shot a video here at home before I sent my sketchbook off to the Brooklyn Art Library. Nelson had me page through the book, reading the story & giving simple explanations of how the pages were created.

Click RAIN to see the video.

RAIN is one of 10,000 sketchbooks that can be viewed for one more week at the Brooklyn Art Library, NYC. From Brooklyn all the books will travel together to other locations around the US for the next year.

Me and RAIN down at the Brooklyn Art Library. See previous posts for photos and story about seeing the 'show'.

FORAY INTO BROOKLYN

So Martha & I took the train down to NYC yesterday & met Pat & Peter in Brooklyn.

Pat was up from Atlanta area and staying with her brother Pete, out in Oyster Bay.

Pete knows Brooklyn like the back of his hand and had a great French Cafe picked out for brunch.

After a round of lattes & espressos along with delicious brunch choices, we headed to the Brooklyn Art Library to see Sketchbook Project 2011.

Both Pat & I had sketchbooks in the 'show'. I had been there last Sunday but this was their first look.

Bookended the day at

another cafe. Desserts, coffees & so much to talk about.

Photos from yesterday from the top:

Pat & Marge

Martha, Pat & Pete looking at 3 of the 10,000 sketchbooks! (Pat is holding Kathy Maghini's sketchbook, Martha's sister.)

Pat with her sketchbook - theme: Things Found on Napkins

Looking & laughing.

Crowd at the Brooklyn Art Library yesterday, Sunday, afternoon.

FINDING MY SKETCHBOOK

I have to see this! How are they going to find my book on this wall of 10,000 sketchbooks !?

Ahh they have a system. I figured it out. They are organized!

My book's theme is A record year of rainfall. So the theme, beginning with the letter A put my book somewhere in the first bay of shelves.

After finding books of the same theme, the Art House gal looked for mine, alphabetized by artists names.

Note the rope in front of the bookshelves. Only the Art House staff takes the books off the shelves.

I have to admit that I was so excited about seeing my book, RAIN, pulled off the shelves! It really was at the Brooklyn Art Library ! And there I am holding it!

I headed for a table, sat down & upon opening it, found the glued-on pocket on the inside cover with my bio, as promised.

This is such fun to be a part of. Maybe I'll do it again! Oh - I'm wearing the blue sticker identifying me as a sketchbook artist participant.

more to come...

COME IN WE'RE OPEN

So said the sign on the door when Nelson & I stopped by the Brooklyn Art Library on Sunday evening. The mob scene had dwindled to just a few people. Great time to see the sketchbooks! There it was, a wall of 10,000 sketchbooks. Somewhere on those shelves was mine & sketchbooks by my friends, Pat, Kathy & Jo! We all participared in The Sketchbook Project 2011.

First stop inside the door was the Library Card desk. I had mine already. They sent it along with the blank sketchbook some

months ago when I joined the challenge. Being a participating artist I was asked to sign the ledger & given a sticker to wear, identifying me as one of the Sketchbook artists. Nice touch.

Next stop was the Checkout desk. (that's me in photo) I was pretty impressed with how organized everything was! They could find a specific book in their IMac's without any trouble at all. They scanned my library card & keyed in the info I gave them.

A printout of my book & one other one, popped out of a machine & was picked up by another staffer at who went in search of the book(s). You could take out 2x at once but only on the same theme.

When I finished looking at the sketchbook(s) I returned them to the Check-In desk, where they were scanned back in.

Story to be continued.