85 notebooks. 26 years. Michael Beirut.

Michael Beirut speaks on 5 different projects. Over the past 26 years, he's completed 85 notebooks of journaling and sketching. You can see pages from his notebooks here at his insightful blog, Design Observer.

"I tend to be obsessive-compulsive, and I am very picky about the notebooks. No fancy Moleskines for me, just standard-issue office supply composition books...There always seems to be a lot of interest in designers' sketchbooks, but I call these notebooks for a reason. I've seen other designer's sketchbooks and I'm always impressed by how much creativity is on display. Not in mine. Page after page contain nothing but records of phone conversations, notes from meetings, price estimates, specifications. I keep the random doodles to a minimum. Someone looking at those pages would think the book might belong to a lawyer or, more likely, a party planner. Every once in a while, though, there are some drawings that would suggest that the owner was a designer."

1. Listen first, then design
2. Don’t avoid the obvious
3. The problem contains the solution
4. Indulge your obsessions
5. Love is the answer

Not so graceful in my journal...

I was feeling restless and discouraged yesterday. Being stuck in Greenwood is wearing on me, and furthermore, I am the reason why I am stuck. I felt like letting loose somehow. I do not have room to paint here, which is probably the reason for most of my escalating insanity, but yesterday I decided to at least break out the watercolors and "vomit" on a page. I just wanted bold colors, unorganized, untrained, and not worrying about composition or anything having to do with design or painting. I got this mess, but it felt good to get out. The brush to the paper felt good and natural again. I followed it with experimenting with a fountain pen and ink, doing spontaneous letters. It felt freeing not to worry about perfection in any sense. Usually I want everything aligned or uniform, always trying to make it more perfect.

It may be tacky and unrefined, but it was freeing, in a way.

And a quick disclaimer: by no sense does this reflect on my traditional way of typography.

"Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and... stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to "walk about" into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?"

-Wassily Kandinsky, 1910

How to Be an Explorer of the World

From How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum by Keri Smith (author of Wreck this Journal):

Happy Birthday...

...to one of the greatest painters I know.

Hanna Kozlowski-Slone is a dear friend and an amazing painter with astounding talent. She pushes herself to her limits and sets high goals, but always seems to meet them with undeniable success. Her attitude and art have inspired me greatly over the past years, and she is just an all-around wonderful person, one of the kindest you could hope to meet.

Happy Birthday, Hanna!



(photo taken by Savannah Springer)

Donato Giancola

Donato Giancola shows his process painting The Mechanic. I always enjoy watching someone paint. There's something very soothing about it.

Virtual Tour!

Sitting at the temporary house in Greenwood (I refuse to call it "home"), wishing to be somewhere else, I found that the Vatican has a virtual tour online of the Sistine Chapel. You can see the work of some of the greatest Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Botticelli. Accompanying the tour are chants which I assume are from the Sistine Chapel choir (I can't find a way to turn the sound off, so turn your speakers down if you prefer not to be blasted with nun music today).

Sharpies: not limited to a sketchbook or your arm.

This Honda sportbike was done by Jesse Lockhart and Nick Schuman with only 4 Sharpies! They each took a side and just drew, straight up improv. It took over 50 hours, mostly working after their 9-5 jobs late into the night. They named the bike Shiyonin (Servant of God).

See the whole interview at the Sharpie blog!



This 2001 BMW 330c1 was done by Travis Todd, taking him 12 hours straight to complete. Sadly, when he went out to lunch with his wife after finishing it, it was vandalized in the parking lot no less than an hour later. Again, no sketching or planning was done beforehand; he just started and drew until he was done!

More photos can be found at AutoMotto.



This might be my favorite, because it's a beautiful car, therefore more pressure (and surface area) to make a masterpiece. The Prestige (Lamborghini Miami) took George Ramos about 2 weeks to complete. It was shown at the Concorso Italiano in Monterey, CA. A clear coat of paint was applied to protect the design (Sharpies are not really permanent).

More photos here!