Retirees

I had a frustrating time sketching anything at the Bruce concert yesterday. I went early, with grand ideas of multiple page spreads, documenting the tailgating activities on the parking lot of Giants Stadium... only to face my own incapacity to draw anything in the sticky heat. I closed my sketchbook after a few unfortunate attempts.
So, when all else fails, draw your pencils. I've had a handful of retired pencils lying around. Pencils that are too short to draw with -- at least for me. What do you do with your little pencil ends? Do you throw them away and move on? I have a hard time getting rid of them, as i still have a tendency to think they did my drawings more than i did. But they're too small to be of any use in a mug or a pencil case. Maybe i should have a pencil box specially labeled for them. A little hall of fame of sorts.

Comments

[Colleen]

There are pencil extenders that you can buy like the one at this website (http://www.dickblick.com/zz229/59/) . Just a thought, if you really want to use them all the way up. Or maybe you could commission Jennifer Maestre (www.jennifermaestre.com) to make a sculpture out of all the little retirees =). I have no afiliation with either web site... =) I am just trying to be helpful. Love your art!

[r.e.wolf]

The Old Pencils Home?

[no way]

How funny-I just came across the work of Jennifer Maestre myself-it's pretty cool, especially the pendants she makes out of pencils. And I second the pencil extender-I give those out to my students when their Prismacolors get tiny, and they're great.

Excellent layout here, also.

[wagonized]

Colleen, thank you for the links! I had never heard of pencil extensions before -- they make so much sense.
AND I checked out Jennifer Maestre's work -- wow! Thanks guys.

[Rick]

A fun and funny post. I say cremate them and then give them a decent burial in your flower garden.

[Lexy]

I think I'm a bit late on this one. But I'm a big fan of pencil extenders too! I just get mine off ebay. I think they're listed as 'metallic' pencils extenders, and they're really cheap, and oh-so useful. You can see what happens to my tiny pencils here:
http://lexy.typepad.com/lexy_art/2008/08/so-i-got-as-far-as-day-one.html
I keep them in a little jar. Yep, a little hall of fame, of sorts. I just wanted to see how many I'd go through in a year! I'm still so surprised that I'm on my 25th drawing and have only used 13... Which is more motivation to keep drawing and see if I can hit 20 by the end of the year!!!
Love your work, by the way. Such a variety!!