Creative compost and joining the dots…

Music credit: Stepping Stones, Laura Platt

Creative compost

Sometimes people ask me how I copy my sketchbook pages into paintings. The answer is I don’t…

I don’t think of my sketchbook as a precursor, a rough draft, or a plan to follow.

It’s more like creative compost.

Slow growing sparks

Sketchbooks are the place where ideas are scattered, layered, scribbled, left to percolate.

Some grow slowly. Some never go anywhere. Some spark something else entirely.

I come back to pages from years ago that have been quietly waiting for me, I spot something and and think “yes, this”…

And sometimes things just appear in my paintings because of artistic muscle memory, things get lodged in the artistic psyche, embedded into the visual venacular because they were once explored and unpacked in a sketchbook.

A sketchbook can be the compost and soil where ideas take root, the archive where ideas rest or the workbench where they’re shaped.

Trust the dots will connect

Nothing is wasted, everything feeds everything…

I like this idea from Apple’s founder Steve Jobs, he’s talking about life, it also applies perfectly to sketchbooks and art:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

~ Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

‘Trust that things will somehow connect in the future’ seems like a great philosophy for art making.

My sketchbook isn’t where I plan a painting, it is more like the soil, the compost, the place from which everything grows, the place from which all the dots eventually connect…maybe.

Art supplies

• The sketchbooks I am using in this video is the Venezia Book from Fabriano.

• The heavy body paint is called Sennelier Abstract Innovative Acrylic Paint

• The High Flow Acrylic paint is from Golden

• The Mixed Media paper is from Fabriano

(Some of these links are affiliate links, if you buy something through them, I might earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only ever share the products that I use. )

Layering ideas

There’s something magical about flipping back through old sketchbooks. The pages are a container for our past ideas, experiments, and creative selves, some ideas are fully realised, others are only partially explored and developed.

What if these pages contained the sign posts to something entirely new?

Small sketchbooks made from scraps and abandoned pages

One of my favourite creative exercises is revisiting old sketchbooks and creations and weaving together different ideas, techniques, and themes to create something new. Layering together ideas as a way of honouring past explorations while pushing into new territory.

If you’re feeling stuck, uninspired, or just curious to see where your work can go, you may like to try this for yourself.

Gather and reflect

Start by pulling out a few of your older sketchbooks or art works, especially the ones you haven’t looked at in a while. Consider your work without judgment. Instead of critiquing, observe with curiosity. What stands out? Are there patterns, motifs, or color combinations that still excite you? Maybe there’s an old idea or composition that didn’t quite work at the time but feels full of potential now.

Hunting for clues

Look for ideas to pick and mix, mix and match. Are there any sketches, techniques, or themes that you could combine together that perhaps you wouldn’t normally put together. Maybe you have a page of delicate floral studies and another filled with bold, abstract mark-making. What happens if you created something new which combines these two ideas? Or perhaps there’s a color palette from one thing that could breathe new life into a completely different subject.

Try making a list of interesting pairings, that you gather from your own creations:

• Watercolor washes + intricate pen line-work

• Geometric collage shapes + loose gestural painting

• Drawn details over bold botanical shapes

• A sketch from years ago + a technique you’ve recently mastered

Pick and mix experiments

Now it’s time to play. Create a new piece or sketchbook page inspired by what you have found. Let go of expectations and approach it as an experiment. Maybe it turns into a finished piece, or maybe it’s just a stepping stone toward something else, but either way, it moves you forward.

Here are some more suggestions of ways to mix things up:

• Redraw an old sketch using a completely different medium

• Redraw an old sketch using a completely different set of colours

• Take a tiny detail from an old sketch and scale it up into a full composition.

• Concept stack. Take three completely different ideas from different sketchbook pages, or previous creations and combine them into something new.

Let it evolve

Creativity thrives on curiosity, so don’t be afraid to push the boundaries a little. What happens if you introduce an unexpected element? What if you challenge yourself to work in a size or format you’ve never tried before? Sometimes, the most exciting breakthroughs happen when we step up to and outside of, our comfort zones.

The beauty of looking back

Revisiting old work isn’t about repeating the past necessarily, it’s about mining it for lost treasure and using it as a bridge to something new.

Every sketchbook holds layers of who we were as artists at different points in time, and when we mix those layers together, we often uncover something surprising.

So, the next time you feel stuck, flip through your own work with fresh eyes. The inspiration you need might already be waiting for you in what you have already created.

Our previous work can give us a sign post to our future creations…

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