A look inside my Sketchbooks

Ideas for mini art quilts

Art journals are all the rage and while I LOVE looking at the gorgeous filled pages, I can't help contrasting them with my sketchbooks. The visual journals are beautiful, stunning, colorful and works of art unto themselves. Mine are, well, not. They are less works of art and more of a tool for me to use as a collection point.

I've kept a sketchbook since my figure drawing class in college. The instructor was amazing and forced us to develop sketchbook pages as part of the course credit. I loved it and have usually had one at hand, or in my purse, or with me in the car, ever since.

One of my covered covers

I know several artists will actually keep several sketchbooks at once but I like having all my recent thoughts, ideas, and sketches together in one place. When I've filled that sketchbook I date it and then, start another. I ALWAYS decorate the cover, add ribbons to the side, whatever to make it personal. I consider a sketchbook a must have- just curious but what do you do to keep your ideas and thoughts together?


Here is a sampling of what I put into my sketchbooks.
      - notes on techniques I've been reading about

          -color combinations that thrill me

-my thoughts on the museum or art fair trip I just took
-inspiring quotes I've stumbled across
-visual lists of my products
-rough sketches of ideas for different projects
-photos to jog my memory of something
-articles torn from magazines
-to-do lists
-things I WANT to-do lists
-postcards of art I love with a note about why I love that piece

What got me thinking about this today was the new book, Journal Junkies Workshop by Eric M. Scott and David R. Midler. I really like how they sort of combine the "art journal" with my workhorse of a sketchbook. It's a great book filled with techniques and ideas- check it out if you have the chance! And let me know what you use. I'm super curious!

Life Close Up

Close up everything looks different- Sometimes it looks big and overwhelming. Sometimes we see parts we never saw before. I had a spider crawling across my wall yesterday and before I could give it a good smack my son stopped me. "Wait Mom, I want to see it close up." Then he got as close as he possibly could (inches) and just looked. He counted it's legs, he tried to figure out where it's eyes and mouth was and really looked. I'm fine with the things outside but absolutely hate how many we have living inside with us. They look like mini tarantulas. So icky. I wouldn't have looked twice at it. But because he did I did too. It was kind of cool. I'm glad he stopped me from just reacting and made me appreciate the spider for just a minute. I still whacked it... but I did appreciate it before I did. Still doesn't sound good. Oh, well. Life.

My thought is that looking close is an important part of observation. Which can be a huge source of inspiration. I'm thinking in particular of Monet's water lilies. I was able to see the panels the MOMA has in New York several years ago. They were just beautiful and the result of his fascination with his subject matter. Monet himself referred to himself once not as a painter but an observer. Which puts other series of his, like his studies of light and haystacks into a sort of Leonardo da Vinci like recording of what he sees. What amazing art was the result of these two men's interest in observing nature- closely.

My self assignment in my sketchbook will be, I think, to observe something CLOSE UP and see how my observation of it will change with the change of perspective. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Butterflies on My Brain...

I've got butterflies on my brain. Maybe because I can feel them so much in my stomach right now. This week has been spent doing some serious brainstorming. I'm trying to come up with some new projects and although I had a ton of ideas I didn't really know where to start. So I did some sketches, and planned some things out step by step on paper. Some of these ideas came about because they were variations of other projects I've done. It was just a matter at looking a little differently at what I had already made. Like the lamp. I found out this week that the lamp I was planning on using in one publication couldn't be used as I had already published it somewhere else. These were two different formats and for some reason I didn't put two and two together that published is published regardless of the format. The lamp was a great piece and I was actually counting on it wow-ing the publishing folks into loving my work. Alas, I can't use it. So back to the drawing board. Except this time instead of allowing the ideas to just come to me I'm forcing it a bit more. It's a challenge th0ugh and challenges are good for forcing growth. Bird's nest and birds lamp design out- butterfly lamp in. I can still use some of my same techniques and the lamp base but the look had to be completely different.


I thought it might be fun to actually wrap wire around the shade this time and use some paper instead of the fabric. But the look just isn't right. I don't hate it-(I actually like it a lot) but it doesn't have the polished look of the first lamp. So Jeremy to the rescue! We stood in front of the lamp and just started to brainstorm together and I think the look on this next lamp is going to be a little closer to my birds nest lamp and have the same polished look but is still different. I'm excited to create it. The sketchbook page at the top of this post has a little sketch I did for myself to remember what I planned. And I did like the wire and paper butterfly shade and I think I'll work a little more with it and maybe add some stitching. But it's going to have to wait for me to get this other lamp done and ready to be shipped. Tomorrow being the weekend I'd like to think I'll have some time to do this but we've got a ton of stuff going on and I don't know when I'll have the time. But the more I get done the less stressed I'll feel about the whole deadline. I guess the solution is to stop blogging and go work! But I did want to share some of the work I've been doing this week with you. When I've finished the next incarnation of the butterfly lamp I'll post it and you can all let me know what YOU think about the two. Thanks!

Be a River

If you could be anything in nature what would it be? Would you be a tree? A mountain? A small still pond? I was looking at some photos from our vacation last summer. It was a good reminder that spring will come. Looking at this photo of mountains and trees and the river I felt some renewal and a peace.

Then this afternoon I was flipping through old sketchbooks and found this teeny tiny little entry.
It said River as Life. I guess it was a personal creed I was thinking about because it goes on..

Meander through life.
Surround yourself with nature.
Be a source of life for all that surrounds you.
Be constantly moving and changing- sometimes slowly, sometimes in a torrent.
Be a still small creek that yet carves its own way through mountains.

I would add to that to be patient when life moves so slowly and enjoy the almost stillness. You're gathering strength for the rapids to come.

Tutorial: My Catch -All

Artists' Journaling is a new publication by Stampington that has just appeared on the magazine rack at my local B&N. I was glancing through it and thinking how beautiful these journals were as works of art. But completely impractical as a working sketchbook. My sketchbook has always been utilitarian. I think of it as my catch-all because I need it as a place to store my ideas until I'm ready for them. There are times when ideas have been flitting through my head all day and if I don't collect them they are there buzzing loudly all night as well. For the last two months I have been without my sketchbook and have really found it frustrating. SO today I decided to bite the bullet and purchase one. I had ideas about a lovely hardcover bound beauty but frugality stepped in and I opted for the cheap paper covered model. Still I wanted something a little more sturdy so once home I altered it a wee bit.




First I glued a piece of fabric to the front cover. Then I tore the cover off of a musty old book and using gel medium glued that on top of the cover.




On top of that I added a couple more pieces of fabric, a ribbon, and a fabric cut out of a butterfly. I wish before I glued these down I had added some stitching- but I was in the groove and wanted to just go for it. Alas.




Then, to reinforce the cover I punched holes in all the corners of the hardcover and added grommets.




Finally, I added some details. The "My sketchbook '09" with colored pencil, some stick on gems, and a few rub-ons. I also cut scraps of fabric and tied them to the wire binding.




Voila! Completely personalized as well as a bit more durable!