Hardy's Little Piece of Internet.

My most extensively used reference book of this year has been 'Street Sketchbook' written and compiled by Tristan Manco. It's a rather large book devoted to the sketchbook workings of over 60 contemporary artists, working in all fields of art. It explains why drawing is so necessary to many artists, and shows the ways in which sketchbook workings manifest themselves in larger 'works' of art.

A few quotes from the introduction that I can't help but agree with:

'Drawing is a sensation, a direct connection to thoughts and emotions translated into an image.'

'Putting pen to paper is where it all begins. Capturing a thought or an image before it is lost. It could be a word, a drawing or a doodle; we take it for granted that with these simple acts we are free to express ourselves, to invent and to dream.'

'The balance between conscious guidance and observation and more expressive movements and actions is a key equation in drawing.' (and painting, I decided)

Artist Research:

From street sketchbook:

Duncan Jago.

http://www.mrjago.com/

Xenz.

http://www.xenz.org/

Hitness.

http://www.hitnes.org/main.html

Sam Vanallemeersch.

http://www.sovchoz.be/

Iemza.

http://www.wooperstudio.com/b-b.html

Outside of the book:

Lydia Dona.

'My work has so many visual elements in it that it works first on its visual appearance,the theoretical part being at once connected and disconnected. I like the impenetrability of the paintings; they resist straight interpretation because they operate as voids, where one can peel and take off the patches to see what’s behind.'

http://www.jca-online.com/dona.html

David Shrigley

http://www.davidshrigley.com/

Tom Judd

'Everyday is a self-set project intended to keep me drawing regularly. Each page represents a day of my life and is scanned and uploaded to this site on completion. I am currently in my second year of daily drawing which will finish on the 30th June 08. Volume 3 will begin 1 year after that date. I will endeavor to maintain this year-on year-off schedule through my entire life, and hopefully by the end of it all I will have a nice record of my artistic development.'

http://www.tomjudd.co.uk/everyday/

Other artists of interest:

Beatriz Milhazes

H.R. Giger

Anselm Kiefer

Franz Ackerman

Trevor Bell

Romanticism research:

William Blake, 'Songs of Innocence and Experience'

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 'Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner'

Coleridge and Wordsworth, 'Lyrical Ballads'

Edmund Burke’s 'A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful' (1757)

William Hazlitt, 'On Living to One's Self' (1821)

'This sort of dreaming existence is the best. He who quits it to go in search of realities, generally barters repose for repeated disappointments and vain regrets. His time, thoughts and feelings are no longer at his own disposal.'