Headed for LA: The Sketchbook Project

Screens of all sizes are common sights around our coffeehouses and hangout. We're typing, we're texting, we're scrolling, and we're deep inside the glowing rectangle we hold in our hands.

But some people are hitting pause on the glow and going for an hour of contemplative sketching, the kind that only requires a blank page and a pencil. If this is what you typically show with at your local coffeehouse, or you're inspired by what you see when you spy other people sketching, swing by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art over the final weekend of July.

What's up? The Sketchbook Project Mobile Library is stopping by the Miracle Mile art museum for three days of sketch celebration, from Friday, July 29 through Sunday, July 31. The on-the-road library contains "thousands of sketchbooks," tomes you can check out and page through, all with the purpose of diving into a stranger's thoughts, ideas, and creative expression.

Want to participate in some of your own sketching? You can while calling upon the library, for the cost of $28. What will that net you? A sketchbook to start with, one that will eventually be catalogued at the Brooklyn Art Library.

Or you can try your hand at The Great American Sketching Swap while there. Faber Castell has donated a bouquet of quality art supplies to the project, including Polychromos Color Pencils and Castell 9000 Graphite Pencils.

"It's like a food truck, but with sketchbooks" is the apt description the mobile library uses. It's not on all day long at LACMA, so eye the hours before arriving to admire a host of sketches created by people from points all over.

And then, of course, try your own if you're tempted. Screens may overrule sketchbooks in some spot these days, but sketching, as a pursuit, a passion, and a lift-the-spirit lifestyle will forever remain.

The Scene

Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.