by Charles Ritchie

Charles Ritchie, Book 16 – Early Fall 1981, *Study for Porchlight* (left page), pen and ink, open book: 6 x 8 inches, 1981. Courtesy of the artist.

5 Sketchbooks

Charles Ritchie | APR 2024 | Issue 32

As an artist who works on paper, I keep a journal as an essential activity. These sketchbooks are filled with watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink studies based on subjects seen around my studio at various times of day, through the seasons and years. Working quickly, and usually before the motif, I distill to the essence of what excites me: a color, a form, a state. I paint towards my mental image of that effect while welcoming serendipitous accident. My aim is to look deeply into myself and my subject, attempting to dig below the surface of things.

Charles Ritchie, Book 109 – Late Winter / Spring 1999, *Sketch of Kitchen* (left page) and *Sketch of* *Mirror and Mantle* (right page), watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink, entry for Wednesday, 21 April 1999, open book: 4 x 12 inches, 1999. Courtesy of the artist.

Among the images, I write in my private notehand that allows me to compose quickly and conserve space in the books. My notations do not necessarily inform the abutting drawings, but usually trace my train of thought, daily meditations and discoveries, and dreams. Particularly in my dreams, I feel an emotional resonance with events in my everyday life. I have come to think of all my entries, both texts and images, as reflections of my subconscious.

Charles Ritchie, Book 143 – Late Summer / Early Winter 2015, *Two Self-Portrait Sketches*, watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink, entries for 6 – 9 November 2015, open book: 4 x 12 inches, 2015. Courtesy of the artist.

The books are pocket-sized, allowing me to keep my work with me at all times. Page size is approximately that of a postcard, responding to my natural tendency to write and paint small. Frequently my images propose compositions for drawings to be executed outside the books. For example, the journal Sketch for Kitchen I (Book 156, right page) and the completed independent drawing, Kitchen I, are reproduced here. Whereas the journal sketches are usually resolved quickly, often in minutes, my drawings outside the books tend to gestate slowly, often taking years to refine to completion. The drawing, Kitchen I was begun in 2017 and completed in 2023.

Charles Ritchie, Book 156 – Late Summer / Fall 2020, Study for *Dark Summer Night* (left page) and *Study for Kitchen I* (right page), watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink, entry for Friday, 28 August 2020, open book: 4 x 12 inches, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.

I began my first book on my twenty-third birthday in 1977 and have completed 167 volumes and counting since that time. Each journal is filled chronologically, from front page to back. On the average, one volume is finished every 3 1/2 months. Looking back, I can say my books have evolved in response to my needs. In some periods, images are more dominant, at other times, writing is. There are periods filled with dreams, and other periods where dreams are infrequent. In more recent books, I have started to focus on words and phrases that seem to appear from nowhere and stick in my mind.

Charles Ritchie, Book 161 – Late Fall 2021 / Early Spring 2022, *Four Landscape Sketches*, watercolor, pen and ink, acrylic, and graphite, entries for 20 – 24 December 2021, open book: 4 x 12”

In general, black pen and ink was the essential tool in my earliest books, with watercolor being added later in increasingly wider ranges of hue. Until mid-1992, I used commercially-produced books in portrait format. Subsequently, Virginia Ritchie, my wife, began constructing the books, and I continue to work in these landscape format books. In my earliest journals, entries were largely undated. I kept the volumes in sequence by labeling each with the season and year of execution (such is the case with the undated entry in Book 16, above). In 1989, I began to date my entries while continuing to note season and year as part of the book’s title.

I have come to greatly appreciate how my journals let me see across time, allowing me to revisit my earlier preoccupations, how I thought, felt, and how I imagined. In doing so, I can converse with my younger self in a way that informs the present and my path forward.

Charles Ritchie, *Kitchen I*, 2017-2023, watercolor, pen and ink, gouache, acrylic, and graphite, image: 6 x 7 5/8 inches, drawing related to *Study for Kitchen I*, in Book 156, (above). Courtesy of the artist.

A solo exhibition of my drawings and journals will be presented at BravinLee programs, New York, from 5 October to 2 November 2024. Selections from the past seven years of work will be on view. You can see more of my art at my website charlesritchie.com and on Instagram at @charlesritchieart.

Charles Ritchie, photographed by Mark Hartman, Courtesy Jason Haam, Seoul.

Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, Charles Ritchie holds an MFA in Painting from Carnegie-Mellon University, and a BFA from the University of Georgia, Athens. His work in the collection of numerous public and private institutions including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation, Westchester, NY, Yale University Art Gallery and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Awards include the Ballinglen Fellowship in Ballycastle, Ireland, five Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, the Franz and Virginia Bader Fund, and MacDowell Colony Fellowship. Recent solo exhibitions include, Welcome to Suburbia at Jason Haam, Seoul, South Korea. The artist’s journals and drawings will be featured in a forthcoming solo show at BravinLee programs, New York, from 5 October to 2 November 2024.