Sometimes, I annotate my weekends in my sketchbook. Not every weekend, but from time to time. Just a few sketches and notes as the events of a weekend unfold. Saturday’s activities on the left-hand page and Sunday’s activities on the right.

You might enjoy seeing some examples. Here are a few from early in 2014...ten years ago. My first Kickstarter was in 2013, so these are early days. Sometimes, you can see the beginning of a new project emerging. The weekend notes also include ideas about new projects that still haven’t gotten off the ground...yet.

I see that in February 2014, I was babysitting my second Kickstarter project—a dinner plate enhanced with a rampaging robot. Still available here.

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I see evidence above that I was doing volcano research in April. That became the sixth dinner plate design. One of my favorites.

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In May, I was testing a 12-ounce mug to make sure it was a good size. Those test led eventually to the amazing Things-Could-Be-Worse mug in 2015.

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At the beginning of July, I drew frogs for the pure fun of it. Two years later, the frogs returned as another dinner plate with giant frogs infesting paradise. I see that the weekend sketches also included a Don/Frog combination.

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In July, a weekend trip to Bedford found me sketching details from old blue-willow plates found at a flea market. There's also a clock sketch. on the right-hand page, that came back years later in the book, Carry On (page 21), where the timepiece is being hugged by a monster. 

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Mostly these sketchbook pages show Don is in a comfortable rut...repeating the same pattern over and over. Chores. Coffee. Walk. Meals. Coffee. Drawing. Reading. Watching movies. Life is good.

I’ll take all the weekends I can get.

Don—Pittsburgh, November 7, 2024