A Paper Hat and the magic sketchbook that changed my life
I stroll into A Paper Hat pretty regularly because it’s the local art store, duh. If I can get my supplies there, I will. Otherwise I’ll go to Jerry’s. And as a last ditch effort, I’ll get my stuff on Amazon.[1]
The video is dedicated to Mika, who owns A Paper Hat. In December 2022, I strolled in and surely bent her ear about needing to find my direction with my art. Hers is a sympathetic ear, and she cajoled me into buying one of these little black Royal Talens sketchbooks. They’re about 4” x 4”. They usually fit in my back pocket. They have thin, but durable paper and the pages have a slight ochre hue. “They’ll change your life,” she told me.
I turned around to ask what she meant, but she was gone! In her place was nothing but a poof of smoke and a faint aura of sparkles and incense. This was my first hint that magic was afoot.
This is the book. I didn’t know what I was going to draw in it. I ended up doing a lot of collage, which was fun and completely different for me. I had never done collage. Who knew… maybe that would be my niche. Maybe that would take off and I would never look back. Maybe that was the magic I didn’t know I wasn’t tapping into.
I gave myself a theme. “Numbers”. Make collages of the numbers 0-10. I chose a font, started cutting shit out, bought a book full of patterns specifically for collage, and made silly little compositions of numerals. Just for fun.
This is not what stuck, but every once in a while, i stick a few new pages together with glued paper, just to get out of my watercolor and ink head.
Later in my journey out of the Shire, I met up with a friend of mine who I drew on a napkin at Gaslight Tavern. At that point I wasn’t yet bringing my sketchbooks everywhere, every time [2].
One night, Matt & Casey Chappina were being inducted into the local Elks Lodge. The local Elks Lodge is the hottest spot in town [3]. On my way back from the grocery store I passed by and opted not to go in, but then changed my mind when I was almost home. All I wanted to do was hang out. I was just about to pull into the lot when I realized I didn’t have my magic sketchbook with me, and turned around again to go home and get it. I made it back just as the top secret, spooky Elks initiation ceremony was about to begin. Ever since then, I never left home without my my magic satchel full of books
This image is the height of the ceremony. I didn’t draw the antlers we each get, because they’re practically impossible to render in any way a non-Elk could even comprehend.
Mika was being sarcastic, maybe even facetious about the idea that this book would change my life. But a year and a half later this past week, I told her it definitely did, and she was delighted by the story of how she was able to inadvertently guide me on the journey I’m on. I try to do the same thing as much as possible! It’s why I teach classes. Maybe some people do it just to kill time. Maybe some people will never touch their art supplies again. But maybe some people will fall in love with the meditative state of making art and capturing the essence of whatever they want to capture, and go on to blossom as a creative. All of these results are valuable!
This is Mika in her shop on Baker Street. The child with the 3 on her jersey is Allyson Levy’s daughter. Allyson is Solo Jewelry Shop. The art in the background on the walls is from the mother of Vanessa Pollock. There’s magic in this painting alone.
FOOTNOTE SECTION
If you do get your stuff from Amazon, download my “how drawing stuff will chill you out” guide, becuase there’s a whole list of my supplies in there and they all have affiliate links, which means that I get a teensy little profit if you buy any of them. Apparently I also get a teensy cut if you buy ANYTHING within the next day after clicking one of my links, so throw me a bone! A teensy little bone. Don’t want to download a whole PDF? Just click this link for a Sailor Fude De Mannen Fountain Pen, which is one of my favorite art supplies and is not available at Paper Hat or Jerry’s.
Now I bring a minimum of three sketchbooks everywhere, every time. No joke.
We desperately need more spots
