dorothy r. santos

Over the weekend, I went to Needles and Pens located in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. It’s one of my favorite spots to get a an art pick-me-up. From doodles to zines, Needles and Pens reminds me that DIY is a wonderful and necessary art movement. It’s, certainly, an important one. There’s a lot of value in other people’s visual musings of this chaotic world. Sometimes, all I really need is something straight forward and inspires me to pick up my journal or sketchbook.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, Illustrators and Designers have a special place in the art world. Their job is to convey a very specific message. Most, if not all, of the time, it’s someone else’s message! It’s a real treat walking into stores like Needles and Pens because I can see the art that has a sense of humor or acknowledges that I, too, get sad and lonely. At times, ecstatic and overjoyed. Even though the above piece may have not been made with me in mind, it sure felt like it was when I picked it up and unfolded it. Things don’t always have to be philosophical or ridiculously abstract for me to enjoy them (although i do enjoy that stuff too). There are those occasions when I yearn to be comforted. A good drawing will do that for me.

There are people out there that think print is on it’s way out. I went to a vintage paper fair and someone said, verbatim, “Paper will be obsolete”.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I say!

Paper will not be obsolete. Certainly not with people like Brooke or Carissa Potter. The list goes on but I won’t because I’m getting awfully tired.

Bottom line: I (still) love drawing and very happy other people do too.