The Sketchbook Project

Breakin’ it down in Tinsletown

Your 2012 Sketchbooks and the Art House Tour Crew crossed back into the United States with minimal interrogation after an incredible show in Vancouver. We cruised past Oakland with a wave and a promise to be back soon, and headed straight for sunny Los Angeles.  

When we arrived at the show venue, the crew at iam8bit was busy installing Notebook Nerd, a new exhibition of drawings in their front gallery. We saw immediately how The Sketchbook Project would pair perfectly with the pen drawings of Jim Rugg.

Rolling our shelves of Sketchbooks into the space, we quickly discovered the ENORMOUS room where we’d be running the shows over the next few days. It’s a good thing the space was so big—on opening night, the entire room was packed with people! In only two nights we checked out 2,062 books and issued 434 library cards—record breaking numbers. We had Neil on the road with us for the first time, and his fresh energy helped us power through all of those book deliveries.

In between checking out books like mad, we had a great time meeting locals from the Los Angeles area and picked up excellent tips on places to eat, including some of the best gelato we had ever tasted. Some of us tried not to be self-conscious during the shows, because of our still-fading sunburns and tan lines from an expedition to the beach the day before … good thing everyone was too busy looking at Sketchbooks or creating Tour Mail at the Drawing Table to notice! We hope to see LA again soon—next time with more sun screen!