A mixed media sketchbook tour

In this video I take you on a tour of a full and completed sketchbook and chat about searching for joy and delight in my art making..

This sketchbook took about six months to fill up. I know from the outside that it probably appears that my whole life is just full of care-free days spent colouring-in in my sketchbook… but the reality is that I have to actively find time for my sketchbook practice.

So here I wanted to talk about fitting a sketchbook practice into your day-to-day-life and how I do it.

Connection and kindness

When life is busy with client work, running a business, deadlines etc, playing in my sketchbook can feel like a luxury or a bit self-indulgent. But actually I know it is neither a luxury nor an indulgence.

My sketchbook practice is a tool for connecting with my creative self.

For me, creating in my sketchbook is a nurturing act, an act of kindness to myself, a form of self care and self expression. It is actually probably more important to me than lots of the other things in my life which, on the surface, would appear to be far more important.

Prioritising creativity

When I go for a week or more without using my sketchbook I feel a little disconnected from my self, a little bit adrift and a little unanchored from the creative side of me.

I find that creating art is like a homecoming, a grounding, it feels like I’m reconnecting and checking in with my self. It is a way to better understand myself, my world and what I’m interested in. So sometimes I have to actively make time for my sketchbook, to recognise that it is a priority to me and organise my life accordingly.

It is a habit which enriches my life, fills my creative-well and a practice which keeps me inspired and fluent in my art making, my sketchbook is the engine of my art making, so I find time for it, even when I don’t seem to have too much time to spare.

Frequently, I have to literally carve out time for my sketchbook, steal time from somewhere else or utilise the time I have better to ensure I get some time with my sketchbook. For example, this Summer I paused making YouTube videos and these newsletters to give myself more time to make art… This meant I had more time to paint generally and more time to use paint in my sketchbook, use messy materials and take time to play about. Life is always a balancing act and I often have to recalibrate and check-in with myself to ensure the pendulum hasn’t swung too far away from art making.

Small windows of time

When I’m busy I often end up fitting my sketchbook practice in whilst I’m waiting for something to cook, or in bed, or on the phone or whilst watching television with my husband at the end of the day… sometimes these scenarios are not optimal and demand a simplicity of materials, one pen or one pencil, but I find that a small stolen window of time is better than none at all.

I never ever manage to work in my sketchbook every single day.

This sketchbook is an Artist Sketchbook from Daler Rowney which has 54 double page spreads, it took six months to fill up... which means I fill a double page spread about once every four days on average…

I find that little and often keeps the creative conversation alive. I love it when I have a whole afternoon to potter and play in my sketchbook, but sometimes life just doesn’t allow that, so I find what time I can.

Reducing friction

I make using a sketchbook super easy….I carry a small sketchbook and pen in my bag, this massive sketchbook is stored under an armchair in my living room with a box of different art materials and a few brushes which hold water in the handle. All I need to just start, is right there, there is no friction, no need to get materials sorted, no decisions to make at all… it is all just there waiting for me and encouraging me to create…

Making it easy

Is there a way you could make your sketchbook more accessible and easier to use? I think it’s a good question to ask… ‘how do we make creating easier?’, sometimes the answer is about lowering our expectations and sometimes the answer is just about putting your sketchbook where you are most likely to use it….

Love of Pattern

My love of decoration, ornament and pattern has been a life-long love affair.

All of my very earliest childhood memories involve pattern in some way..,the wallpaper in my infant bedroom, the pattern of a dress, a carpet, a bedspread, a plate, the decoration on our neighbour’s biscuit tin when I was only three or four. I see and remember the world via pattern.

The art we make reflects who we are back to us, doesn’t it?. It can be a projection, an extension of who we are, a culmination of our experiences, our sensibilities, our curiosities, our feelings…. And my art definitely celebrates a love of pattern.

Humans are pattern makers

I think perhaps patten also has an instinctual universal appeal too. Humans are pattern makers and pattern seekers. From the earliest times we have added ornament, decoration, motifs and marks to the items in our world, we turn the ordinary into the extraordinary through making our mark on the world. .We have always added pattern, ornamentation, decoration and detail to the items in our lives to make our lives more beautiful.

Humans are pattern seekers

We seek patterns as a way to understand the world.. there is comfort, familiarity and understanding in repetition and repeats…and at it’s most basic form that’s exactly what a pattern is. It’s a shape, a motif, a mark… repeated.

I seem to agree with the saying that ‘repetition makes perfect’…

Books and links

Here are the books I share in the video.

Terry Winters. Paintings, Drawings, Prints 1994–2004 Hardcover, 2005 by Richard Shiff (Author), Rachel Teagle (Author) Published by Yale University Press.

This book is now out of print but you can see more of Terry Winter’s art on his website here

Matisse in the Studio Hardcover – 6 April 2017 by Ellen McBreen (Author) et al, Royal Academy of the Arts

How to make a simple sketchbook

In this video I show you how to make a simple sketchbook from one large piece of paper. The bigger sketchbook in the video is made from an A1 sheet and the smaller one is made from an A3 sheet.

I make these simple one page sketchbooks very frequently and have for many years. There is something extremely tactile and pleasing about making a simple art book. I like the fact that it’s just one piece of paper, no pressure, no expectations, it feels expansive and freeing.

The great thing is that you can make them from any paper you have that you can fold and you can make them from abandoned art experiments or drawings if you’d like to…. in the video I am using paper which is approximately 150gsm in weight.

Art and life: sketchbooks, paintings and art books

In this video I show you some new completed paintings and trace their origin back to some old sketchbook pages. I share a couple of my favourite art books, talk a little about art and life and share some of my latest sketchbook meanderings…

The artists and books I mention:

Angie Lewin: Plants and Places by Angie Lewin, published by Merrell 2010

Barbara Rae: Barbara Rae, words by Bill Hare, Andrew Lambirth & Gareth Wardell, published by Lund Humphries in 2008

Available paintings

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Online art classes

Mixed Media Sketchbook Class £20

Make a Concertina Sketchbook £30

Colour and Pattern Sketchbook Class £20

Mark Making Sketchbook Class £20

A Playful Approach to Still Life £40

Make an Experimental Mixed Media Art Journal £30

Searching for joy and delight

Music Credit: Supine by Peter Sandberg via Epidemic Sound.

In this video I take you inside my mixed media sketchbook and share a speedy art demonstration experimenting with ink…

I often write notes to myself about my art, things I want to explore, things to remember, ideas to expand upon, fragments and whispers I want to capture.

Sometimes I list the things I want to do more of or the things I want do less of…

I’ve always found writing to be a useful way to think…by pouring words onto a page, I organise and clarify my thoughts and bring light to what I believe.

Joyful abandon

Recently a phrase has repeated itself in my notes and thoughts in terms of how I want my art to feel. “Joyful abandon.” has appeared twice in my notes… I only noticed it when I read back through them. And then I noticed I’d written it not once, but twice, on different days…in the same week. A subconscious thought made visible.

And what did I mean? I think I meant I want joy and delight to be the things I seek in my art making, my north star…

In this season of my life I want to lean-in to what I find and feel to be joyful…and perhaps abandon the things that don’t support this. There is something unapologetic, exuberant and enthusiastic about the concept of ‘joyful abandon’ that resonates with me. A lack of inhibition and constraint that feels expansive.

When there is so much darkness and difficulty in the world, it may perhaps sound naive of me to be seeking joy. The last few years have been a little challenging for me, I have struggled with some ongoing health issues and various other challenges, and it is exactly this difficulty that has made me more attuned to joy, more keen to seek it out, to celebrate it and appreciate it….

Seek what you value in your art

Creating art isn’t always easy, there will often be problems to solve, fallow seasons, perhaps times when it feels more challenging than others, sometimes art making will feel vulnerable and exposing, we will often get in our own way, but making a decision to seek out what you value the most and do less of the things that don’t serve this seems like a good ambition to me…

Art demo: abstract painting inspired by shapes

Music Credit: Supine by Peter Sandberg via Epidemic Music.

In today’s video I demonstrate a way to build up an abstract painting using layers of acrylic paint and shapes.

In a previous video I shared a drawing exercise which created a grid of shapes. Today I take some of the shapes from that drawing exercise and use them to develop striking abstract painted pages in a sketchbook. It is a method you may want to explore as a way to progress your original drawn ideas and use your repertoire of shapes in a painting. You can watch the original drawing video here if you’d like to:

In today’s painting demonstration I am using heavy body acrylic paint from Sennelier in a Daler Rowney A3 Sketchbook which has 160gsm paper.

This paint has quite a matte finish (although I think it is technically described as satin) so it doesn’t tend to result in sketchbook pages which stick together, some heavy body paint can be quite glossy and it is this shine that results in finished pages sticking together, despite them being dry when you close your sketchbook.

This demo and exercise is messy and playful and it can create interesting and surprising results…(if you enjoy a pristine sketchbook or are at all concerned that the paint you are using might possibly cause your pages to stick together you may want to try this on a piece of paper instead). I hope you enjoy it.

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Online art classes

Fun, Experimental Semi Abstract Still Life Class £40

A Playful Approach to Abstract Acrylic Still Life £40

Mixed Media Sketchbook Class £20

Colour and Pattern Sketchbook Class £20

Mark Making Sketchbook Class £20

Make an Experimental Mixed Media Art Journal £30

Make a Concertina Sketchbook £30

Painting: a process of discovery

In this video I chat about how painting can sometimes feel like setting off on a trip with no idea of the destination. When I start painting I can’t always predict the direction the paintings will take. The act of painting can feel like an adventure to an unknown land.

No idea how they will develop…

I’m currently working on a series of new paintings, developing several at once, edging them all forward slowly. Sometimes I enjoy the challenge of a destination which is totally unknown to me, of taking a blank surface and turning it into something alive with paint and colour and pattern… When I started these paintings I had no idea how they were going to develop or what they were going to become. They’re not yet finished, they are still becoming.

Sense of discovery

Sometimes when I create, I have a clear end result in mind, clarity about what I’m creating, I have an idea, a plan and execute on that plan. But in this instance, I set sail with no intended destination in mind. I enjoy the sense of discovery and problem solving which comes with developing a painting with no clear agenda or idea of where I’m going, I take one step, then another and another. I found a quote I had written in one of my old notebooks from the artist Paula Rego which I love.

“You are doing it (painting) to find out what the result will be”

Paula Rego

Sketchbooks: Muscle memory and cataloging

Sometimes this way of painting can feel like jumping out of an aeroplane and hoping the parachute will open. For me my sketchbooks and drawings are my metaphorical parachute. They are the support system that allow me to start with no plan or firm direction of travel.

My sketchbooks are a powerful resource for me, which give me the confidence to start without knowing exactly what I am painting. My drawings help my painting practice in two key ways. Firstly they have helped me to develop a personal visual language, a set of motifs, a way of creating art. So when I come to paint I have all that experience inside me, there’s a muscle memory I can pull on.

And secondly they are a catalogue of my work which I can flick through to remember. I know I can lean on them at any point during the painting process and they will help me to find a direction to follow. I feel safe in embracing the unknown in my painting practice because of what I have created in my sketchbooks…

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If you’re looking for an art process to help you create beautiful abstract and semi abstract acrylic paintings from objects in your life, you may like to check out my online art class Objects to Abstracts:

Collages and cardboard cut-outs

After any break or pause in art making, I always feel the need to kindle the flame a little, to poke around the embers, to build back my creative momentum and mojo. When we talk about creativity we often use fire analogies. Stoking the flame, igniting the spark, finding what lights our fire... Finding inspiration for our art is a little like tending to the hearth fire. Ideas develop when they are given enough air and enough fuel, nurtured and stoked. So in this video I take you with me as I play about with cardboard, cut outs and paint… sometimes low stakes, low expectation, low pressure exercises are just the thing to reignite my creativity and get me excited about making and creating again…

MATERIALS

The sketchbook in this video is from a British brand called Daler Rowney and it’s an A3 large sketchbook with 160gsm paper. The paint I’m using to paint the cardboard is Abstract Acrylic paint, a heavy body acrylic paint from a French brand called Sennelier with pencil and felt tip pen details.

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If you’d like to make more art or try out some some fun new art making techniques, check out my art classes which are all available to take now…

A year of sketchbooks

In these videos and blogs I like to share what I’m up to in my art practice and as the year draws to a close I find myself in a reflective mood.

I decided to gather together all the sketchbooks I worked in this year and meander through them with an inquisitive and curious heart. To see what I thought, if anything occurred to me, to see if I could spot signposts for where to go next. To see if my art felt how I wanted it to feel.

Intention setting

This time last year I wrote a few words to help guide my art making in 2023. I defined how I wanted my art and art making to be:

• Bold, playful and joyful

• Brave and exciting

• Unrestricted and unrestrained

• Enthusiam and expansion

• More exciting and more wild

I can’t say that I’ve nailed this brief. When I see my art gathered together like this, it does feel playful and joyful to me, however I think I have a long way to go in terms of bravery and wildness. I feel like I’m making small incremental moves in the right direction though…

Joining the dots

I often find that looking back helps me to look forward.

My sketchbooks are a safe place where I can store and record my art making and reflect upon it, sift through it and join the dots. My sketchbooks help me to better understand the things about my own art making which interest and fascinate me, the things about the world that interest and fascinate me.

Why I love sketchbooks

Sketchbooks are a place where I make art for myself. The pages are not necessarily filled with ‘sketches,’ the art is not necessarily a draft for something more important, although it can be, I think of my sketchbooks as a place where I experiment and express myself. Sketchbooks are where I gather together the hints, whispers and clues of my artistic practice. Sketchbooks are the filing cabinets for my art making. They are a place to collect and curate small delights and large curiosities. They are a place to make art for the joy of creating, a place to find a path through, problem solve, follow a thread. They are both a homecoming and an adventure…a safe harbour and an adventure playground.

Compound effect

I was slightly astonished by the quantity of work I’ve made in my sketchbooks this year.

I know, as a full-time artist, who is evangelical about sketchbooks and who also teaches sketchbook techniques, I am always going to have a lot of sketchbook work, but the amount surprised even me. I don’t work in my sketchbook every day, and it’s often an hour in the evenings whilst also doing something else. But I do consistently make time for my sketchbook, it’s a valuable practice for me and so I make time for it, even if this is small windows of time.

It is a good reminder that ‘little and often’ has a powerful compounding and cumulative effect. Small actions added together over a year add up to something significant…

Understanding our art by writing

I’m a great believer in writing things down. Sometimes the act of putting pen to paper can turn the intangible into the tangible. Asking ourselves questions and writing down our answers can help us to articulate our intentions and ideas to ourselves. It can help us find clarity when we are a little unclear. Our answers can also serve as a reminder and prompt along the way.

A sketchbook made from one piece of paper

One page sketchbooks

In this video I share how I use one page sketchbooks as art note books.

You can learn how to make a one page sketchbook here if you would like to.

Writing to understand

Writing about our art can help us to organise our thoughts, collect and capture ideas and can give us ideas when we are feeling under-inspired. Here are some questions you may like to use as prompts for your own writing:

• What am I interested in exploring?

• How do I want my art to feel?

• What processes do I want to explore?

• What do I want to start/stop doing in my art making?

• What artist’s are currently calling to me and why?

• What art materials do I want to use?

• What advice do I need to give myself?

• What can I do to nurture my creativity?

I like to keep adding to my one page notebook as ideas occur to me, I try and capture those fleeting observations before they escape. It creates a useful resource, a map of inspiration and ideas…

Art materials: felt tip pens

In this video I share some thoughts about using markers and felt tip pens in my sketchbook and share some of my favourites.

I really enjoy using this type of pen in my sketchbook practice, they are quick, portable and accessible. There is something playful, easeful and joyful about them. The brilliantly bright colours seem cheerful, optimistic and exuberant to me.

ART MATERIALS

Here are some of the felt tip pens I like to use, these are just my personal preferences, I tend to mix and match brands to find the colours I like. You may like to explore adding multiple layers of colour on top of each other to build up intensity and get a more unusual colour palette or experiment with combining felt tips pens, with other art materials such as collage and paint…

I mostly use water-based or indian ink based pens in my sketchbook, I find that alcohol based markers always seem to seep through to the page beneath no-matter the paper quality and I find their smell a little overpowering, so I mostly used water based….

These are the brands I use most often:

• Pentel Pocket Brush Pen ( this is the black brush pen I use the most which is refillable)

• Ecoline Brush Pens ( these pens can be refilled with Ecoline liquid watercolour which comes in bottles)

• Faber Castell PITT Artist Pens (indian ink based so waterproof)

• Stabilo Pen 68 BRUSH

• Staedtler 3001 double ended watercolour brush pen

• TomBow ABT Dual Brush Pens

  The Faber Castell and Tombow’s are the more expensive high-end ones, they are not cheap, but as a professional artist I do invest in materials. The Staedtler ones I find to be really good quality and excellent value. The Ecoline pens can be refilled. Please don’t feel you need to start with expensive pens, the best felt tip pens to use are always the ones you already own…(or perhaps the ones your kids or grandchildren own!)