A love letter to sketchbooks

There’s no one right way to do anything, and that includes keeping a sketchbook.

My sketchbooks feel like a motley gang of unruly but beloved friends, each one different, with its own quirks and oddities. And that’s exactly why I love them, not in spite of their weirdness, but because of it.

You know that saying about friends: “They come into your life for a season, a reason, or a lifetime”?

I think it applies to art-making and sketchbooks too. I look back at certain sketchbooks and remember those seasons of life so vividly, times when a sketchbook was an escape from life’s upheaval, a place of quiet creativity or times when it was simply a place of carefree art adventure.

Sketchbooks: A powerful creative tool

A sketchbook can be one of the most powerful creative tools an artist possesses.

For me, they’ve been life-changing. They’ve helped me move from hesitation to confidence, from creative uncertainty to finding my artistic voice. My sketchbooks have been a springboard into a more colorful and creative life. If you’ve ever considered keeping a sketchbook, here are a few reasons why you may like to start or re-start.

Making art for yourself

There is something deeply nourishing about making art just for yourself. Experimenting in a sketchbook can lift the spirits and bring immense joy. The simple act of transforming a blank page into something alive with meaning, color, and line is rewarding in itself. A sketchbook is a private place where we can have a creative conversation with ourselves. For me, it has been where I have learnt to be less critical and judgemental of myself and my art.

So many pages, so many opportunities, so much possibility has helped me loosen my attachment to how any one thing turns out…it just doesn’t matter.

A place to begin

Sketchbooks are where we find out about our own art sensibilities, not where we show up fully formed. They are part of the journey, not the final destination.

When we start working in a sketchbook, it helps to embrace a beginner’s mindset—to stay open, curious, and willing to explore. It’s okay to make mistakes, things that haven’t worked teach us something. We don’t need to expect too much from ourselves. I love this idea from Vincent Van Gogh:

“I am always doing what I can’t do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”

A place to learn and grow

In a world obsessed with outcomes, a sketchbook offers a space for discovery. It allows us to explore our interests, experiment with techniques, develop and flex the ways in which we make art. A sketchbook is where we learn what excites us creatively, where we test ideas, push our boundaries, refine our process, and reflect on our evolving art practice.

A place to practice

It is called an art practice for a reason, a sketchbook is a great place to practice and track the progression of an idea, skill or approach.

A filing cabinet of ideas

A sketchbook is more than just a collection of drawings—it’s a filing cabinet for your creativity. It gathers fragments of inspiration, allowing us to flip through pages and spot recurring patterns, themes, and ideas. Over time, our sketchbooks reveal what captivates us, helping us refine our artistic identity.

Begin where you are

A sketchbook is a companion, a teacher, a playground.

It doesn’t demand perfection. It invites exploration. It reminds us that creativity is not about flawless execution but about showing up, trying and growing.

So, if you’ve ever hesitated to start a sketchbook, let this be your sign: Begin.

Fill the pages with your ideas, your experiments, your mistakes, and your joy. Let it be a space where your creativity can run wild, unfurl and be unjudged.

You never know where it might take you.

Types of sketchbook

Here are some of the sketchbooks I like, but sketchbooks are a personal preference and come in so many different shapes, sizes and varieties, the sketchbook that is right for me, may not be right for you.

The best sketchbook to use is always the one you already own.

1. The Venezia Book from Fabriano

2. Stillman & Birn, Zeta Range

3. The Ebony Artist Book from Daler Rowney

4. Dylusions Creative Journal Large from Ranger

5. Seawhite of Brighton Pocket Concertina

6. Talens Art Creation Sketchbooks

   (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 actually use. )
   

A sketchbook of fragments

This video for was filmed in December 2023

In this video I show you the progression of some abstract paintings, I take you inside a couple of my sketchbooks and share a specific approach I sometimes use to start and fill a sketchbook….I also share a few books I’m currently inspired by.

If you ever find yourself with an assortment of paper scraps, abandoned sketches, old art excercies or leftover bits from other projects you may like to try this. Instead of letting them pile up or throwing them away, turn them into a creative and joyful sketchbook practice.

I call this my Sketchbook of Lost and Lonely Fragments, it’s a low-pressure, intuitive way to explore composition, color, and mark-making.

Getting started

• Collect scraps of paper, painted off-cuts, patterns, abandoned doodles, or any interesting textures and colors that speak to you. These could be anything from torn magazine pages to leftover swatches of paint on a palette.

• Randomly glue them in to your sketchbook. Try not to overthink this bit, start adhering these fragments across the pages of your sketchbook.

• Use the whole sketchbook. Work through your entire book, placing snippets on each page. This disrupts the intimidating blank page and provides a playful starting point for future creativity.

  Developing the pages

• Once your base of fragments is in place, you can revisit the pages at random and begin developing them further:

• Explore intuitive mark-making. Use pens, pencils, markers, or paint to add details. Try drawing lines, shapes, patterns, or shading to interact with the fragments.

• Experiment with composition. Let the placement of your scraps guide your creative choices. Try and create a balanced page by emphasising certain areas, using colors and exploring contrasts.

• Play with different materials. Collage, stitch, paint, or even cut through pages to create unexpected layers.

• Let surprises happen. Approach the process without a fixed outcome in mind. The goal is to stay playful and see what emerges naturally.

  Why you many like to try this approach

• It reduces the pressure of perfect. By starting with an already ‘disrupted’ page, you bypass the fear of the blank page.

• It encourages playfulness. The randomness of the fragments leads to spontaneous and surprising compositions.

• It fosters creative exploration. Working in this way encourages new ideas, unexpected juxtapositions, and unusual combinations.

• Turns scraps into treasure. Re-use your abandoned art experiments. What was perhaps discarded now becomes an integral part of a creative process.

I think creating in this way is an invitation to embrace imperfection and spontaneity. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t need to be pre-planned or polished—sometimes, the most exciting discoveries come from embracing the unknown and unexpected.

So consider this a small invitation to gather your scraps, open your sketchbook, and start creating.

Books and links

• Mark Hearld Workbook published by Merrell 2012, words by Simon Martin. You can follow Mark on instagram

• Picasso on Paper, a catalogue from the The Royal Academy of Arts 2020, to accompany the exhibition of the same name. There is a Youtube video of the exhibition here

• Brian Wildsmith, 123 first published in 1965, by Brooklyn Art Books for Children. There is a website cataloguing Brian’s books, art and illustration here or there is an instagram account managed by his family

  The two sketchbooks I show is this video are 1. The Venezia Book from Fabriano and 2. A3 Ebony Artist Sketchbook from Daler Rowney.

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Balancing chaos and focus in art making

Creativity often swings between inspiration gathering and disciplined execution. At the start of any creative endeavor, we might need a little chaos—openness, curiosity, and exploration. But to bring an idea to life, we need the opposite: clarity, focus, and determination.

Sometimes, we need the scattergun. Sometimes, we need the laser.

As I write this, I’m in the thick of filming my next online course. The process of creating this course has made me reflect on how creativity often demands two distinct modes: exploration and execution.

For the past two months, I’ve been in the scattergun phase—of coming up with ideas, hunting, gathering, experimenting, and throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. I’ve been absorbing books, discovering new artists, writing notes, journalling, sketching, expanding different techniques, and letting curiosity lead the way. This stage thrives on novelty, variety, and stimulation. It’s a time for playful chaos—inviting in fresh ideas, mixing influences, and allowing creative sparks to ignite.

But now, I’m in the laser phase—actually turning the ideas into a reality. Taking all the threads and creating the thing. This requires a completely different mindset: deep focus, structure, and an ‘all-in’ mentality. The distractions that once sparked ideas now threaten progress. Instead of jumping between concepts and tasks, I must commit, push through challenges, and sustain intense concentration.

This dance between divergence and convergence happens in most creative endeavors. It happens when making art—we start with an open field of possibilities, then gradually we define a path, make firm decisions, and commit.

Navigating the two modes in art making:

Embrace the scattergun phase fully

• At the start of a project or new body of work, embrace the ambiguity and uncertainty. There is often a lot of ‘not knowing’.

• Experiment with different materials, colours, techniques, styles and subjects—invite in the ‘new’ or novel without pressure or expectation.

• Seek inspiration from unexpected sources: museums, obscure books, nature, seek outside of your usual circles of reference...

• Fill sketchbooks with unfiltered ideas—sketchbooks are often divergent thinking in action…lots of experimentation, gathering, connecting dots…

• Follow your intuition. Let curiosity guide you. Resist the urge to make sense of everything immediately—connections and breakthroughs often emerge over time.

• Give yourself the opportunity to rest and the space to think if you can; creative ideas often surface when the mind is relaxed. “I’ll sleep on it”…is a truism for a reason. Allowing a little spaciousness into our lives, is fertile, it can allow ideas to take shape and grow.

• Gather inspiration like you’re building a virtual pinboard—often, magic happens in the weird combinations and unexpected connections.

Commit to the laser phase when it’s time

• Finishing an artwork or any creative project often requires a real focus and concentration. Align deep work with your natural energy cycles—concentration flows best when you work with your own rhythms.

• Set aside dedicated ‘studio’ time to refine, develop, and focus on your work. Set a timer for an set period of intense concentration and deep focus

• Trust the instincts you developed in the exploration phase—this stage is about shaping, not second-guessing.

• Reduce distractions (social media, external input) and fully immerse yourself in the process.

“Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.”

― Cal Newport, Deep Work

Know when to switch gears

• If your work feels chaotic and unfocused, it might be time to narrow in and commit to a single direction.

• If you feel stuck or uninspired, loosen up—step away, explore new references, invite in something new or experiment freely again.

Creativity in art and life isn’t about choosing one approach over the other—it’s about learning to move between wild experimentation and disciplined refinement. The scattergun fills the well; the laser brings the vision to life. It seems to me that both are essential.

Creativity can be a balm for the soul

“A lot of people don’t feel creative because they’re physically and emotionally exhausted. The recipe for your life should be this: rest until you feel like playing, then play until you feel like resting, and then repeat.”

— Martha Beck, Quoted in the Los Angeles Times 7th January 2025

2025 has unfolded slowly for me. I’ve been poorly with something resembling flu and have spent much of this new year in my pyjamas coughing …

Pencil sketchbook pages from last year

I have done little in life or art, but now I am feeling a bit stronger I have spent some low-key, quiet time meandering in my sketchbook.

Playing with some simple drawing materials… Expecting very little of myself, creating as a lovely distraction. Manufacturing small moments of joy, just as a nice thing to do. Creating for the sake of creating, not for any outcome, just for the experience of doing it.

A sketchbook from a few years ago…

It has made me think about the healing nature of creativity and how beneficial my sketchbook practice has been to me through difficult passages of life.

The last five years have presented a small rollercoaster of personal challenges, as I’m sure they have for many. I’ve had some on-going chronic health issues, my mother died after being ill for many years and we had a house flood which meant we had to re-build the bottom floors of our home whilst living in a hotel for many months… and through it all my sketchbook practice has felt like an anchor, it has been a wonderful balm for my soul and a comforting creative place to go.

Creating in my sketchbook has felt restorative, enriching and up-lifting, sometimes fun, sometimes a necessary source of calm and distraction. A small place to go and be creative. A place where I can just do a little, or sometimes a lot. Sometimes a place to rest and refuel, sometimes a place to wonder and be wild.

Previous sketchbooks

When life seems to derail our creativity, and when things happen that dampen our natural desire to create … it is perhaps in exactly these moments of life that creativity can be important.

In times of difficulty, small creative moments are perhaps more crucial, they can provide hope, light and encouragement. When we create art we are reminded of valuable lessons which are also needed for life. Our whole life is a creative act, which requires courage, problem solving, tenacity, a sense of adventure and optimism. And when we make art we remind ourselves of our ability take a blank page and make it into something meaningful.

A creative practice can be life-enriching and supportive, whatever is happening…

My sketchbook has been both a refuge and an escape. Using a sketchbook has provided a nourishing playground, a sanctuary and a safe harbour when waters have been choppy. It has been a place to ground both myself and my art.

Small handmade art journals

My sketchbook practice has been so valuable to me only because my expectations are so low.

The stakes are low. It is a place for me to create for the joy of creating, a place to create art for the sake of creating art. A place to make anything I want to make. A place where the activity is perhaps important than the outcome. Scribbling and mark making is sometimes enough.

A sketchbook is personal. Your sketchbook, your rules. It’s a place to primarily make art for yourself, to let your interests and style iterate and unfold, it’s not about displaying art, getting approval or finished and finessed works, it’s a place to work things through, figure things out and have a creative conversation with yourself. Or just to play about with materials, to colour-in, because that is what you need in that moment.

Pencil and felt tip pen sketchbook page

Whatever is happening in our lives, creativity can support us in small and large ways.

Creativity is an important way to express ourselves, connect with ourselves, understand ourselves, a way to cope, a way to find hope, a way to meditate, think, feel, process and reflect.

Ultimately making art is a way to come home to ourselves…

A pencil drawing in my sketchbook

You might like this:

Here are some other posts which you may enjoy:

Mixed Media Sketchbook Tour

The Ebbs and Flows of Creativity

Artist’s Sketchbooks

A pencil Still Life drawing

Drawing and exploring in a sketchbook

Creating simple abstract collages

Music Credit: Softly to Myself by Kylie Dailey via EpidemicSound

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” Carl Jung

Today’s video is all about abstract collages and small creative challenges.

In a previous blog post I chatted about a new book called: Make Every Day Creative, Art Anyone Can Do by Marion Deuchars, published by Skittledog 2024. I said I would pick a project from within it to share with you…so in today’s video I share a collage exercise from the book.

Creating collages from random shapes is such an interesting creative challenge.

On the face of it arranging pieces of paper is a simple thing, but creating a composition we find interesting and visually pleasing requires us to dance between sponteniety and thoughtfulness…Trying but not trying too hard.

Essential play

These playful tasks can be an important addition to our art practice, small projects where the process and the discovery are more important than the outcome.

Play is often underrated and is an important part of art making.

Carl Jung said that the “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct”, whilst Albert Einstein said “Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”

Sometimes play can feel like an indulgence, but I think it’s probably nearer a necessity…it’s how we discover, innovate, try things out, problem solve, learn tolerance and adaptability …

Further reading

In the book, Make Art Everyday by Marion Deuchars and within this video a couple or artists are mentioned;

• If you would like to find out more about the art books of the early 20th Century Russian Avant Garde artists this is a good article from Getty with further links to explore ( the specific artists mentioned in the book are Natalia Goncharova and Aleksandr Rodchenko)

• Matisse is renowned for his cutouts and collages, you can read more about his approach in this article from MOMA.

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Monochrome magic

This video is one from my vault and was filmed in 2022.

Simple and striking

Colour is fascinating in all its sumptuous and seductive hues, but I am also very attracted to the simplicity and strikingness of black and white. In this post I share a few thoughts about working in black and white and a few of my favourite art materials.

Contrast and composition

The black and white palette is the most high contrast one there is, the lightest of lights and the darkest of darks. And as contrast and difference are what can make an artwork feel interesting, black and white can be a powerful and bold combination.

When using just black and white the composition of an artwork becomes more obvious, there is no colour to hide behind and this can be quite helpful in seeing how shapes, lines and all the constituent parts interact.

It pares everything back to its bones and I enjoy the elemental nature of this…when working in colour there are so many decisions to make, just using a few black pens takes away a lot these decisions.

Sometimes colour can obscure what is happening with a composition, in black and white the composition becomes extremely obvious.

The materials

Here is a run down of some of the materials I use, they’re just the ones I like, but I often get asked about which pens I use, so here they are:

BLACK PENS

• Pigma Micron Fine liner Pen for fine lines

• Pentel Pocket Re-fillable Brush Pen (this is the pen I use for the large sections of black, it is refillable with cartridges)

WHITE PENS

I can’t whole-heaertedly recommend any white pen, in my experience they are all often a little difficult. I often revert to a dip pen and a small pot of white ink.

• Molotow One4all white acrylic pen

• Sakura Gelly Roll 10

• Uni Posca Marker Pen Fine

• Uni Ball Signo Broad

I’m also just trying out some Zig pens from a brand called Kuretake which have had good reviews and I will let you know how they pan out…

OTHER MATERIALS

I often use black Indian Ink from Jackson’s Art and stick in pieces of photocopy with matt medium or a glue stick.

SKETCHBOOK

The sketchbook I use here is called the Venezia Book from Fabriano which comes in several sizes and has 200gsm paper and 48 sheets or 96 page surfaces. I mostly use the largest one which is 23cm x 30cm as it can take quite a bit of wet material and collage and the double page spreads in this size book lay quite flat…

Constraints

The limitation of using just a few pens and a limited choice of black and white quite liberating. Sometimes constraints can be, paradoxically, very freeing in art making, they can make it easier to start and cut down the decisions needed when infinite possibilities lead to option paralysis…

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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

Art making manifesto

It is useful to think about what we believe when it comes to our own art making.

I wanted to summarise my personal beliefs and be clear about my own philosophy and wisdom. Things about art which I know to be true, the guiding principles behind my practice.

So here it is. My art making manifesto. A set of beliefs in a few short words, but also a set of intentions. A small reminder, a note to myself and perhaps others. A written set of ideas to guide, remind and direct me… my north star of art making.

This is what I believe, you may not agree…

I think it is a useful exercise to document what we believe to be true for ourselves. Define our own wisdom.. Perhaps you may like to try and write your own manifesto and guiding principles.. Just thinking about what we do actually believe to me true can be enlightening.

MAKE MORE ART

The more art we make the better our art becomes. The more art we make the more likely we are to develop skills and ideas. The more art we make the more confident we become in our decisions. The more art we make the better we are able to spot patterns, connections and themes. The more art we make the better we are able to identify reoccurring pre-occupations and fascinations.

SKETCHBOOKS ARE MAGIC

Sketchbooks are a great place to try things out and explore. They are a place to ponder, wonder and play. A place to safely gather together the hints, whispers and clues of an artistic practice. A place to collect and curate small corners and large curiosities, a place to develop skills and processes.

EVERYONE’S AN ARTIST

I believe everyone’s an artist, it’s a natural human instinct to interpret and understand ourselves and the world through creating. Art-making is a skill, developed by practice and not an innate talent which we either have of don’t have.

DEVELOP THROUGH DOING

The idea of art being a ‘practice’ is right, we do indeed have to practice. It is in the action that we discover ways of making art which feel right, that we discover ourselves as artists.

EXPERIMENTATION EQUALS DISCOVERY

I find that the more I experiment the more I am likely to discover things about my own art and the things that excite and interest me. I find it valuable to try things and then reflect on the signposts and signals I find within those experiments….

BE MORE WEIRD

It’s our particular visual quirks and sensibilities, our own peculiar weirdnesses that make our art feel uniquely ours. We should lean into these, whether it be subject matter, process, colour, the way we mix or apply materials. Our weird bits can be our interesting bits, they are part of our artistic voice and style.

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE

Inspiration is everywhere and making art helps us to seek and find what we are personally interested in. Creating art helps me to see the world with new and curious eyes, it brings more wonder and awe into my life. I notice more, pay more attention to details and become more fascinated by random and unexpected beauty in the world around me.

PROCESS OVER PERFECTION

This one is the art making equivalent of “it’s the journey, not the destination.” As artists we all need to develop a selection of processes and methods which feel good, enjoyable and which match our own interests and sensibilities.

DELIGHT YOURSELF FIRST

Rather than think, “Will people like what I’ve made?” perhaps a more useful question is “Am I making art that I truly love?”

Our art is an expression of who we are…

Music used in video: Softly to Myself by Kylie Dailey

In this video and blog I share some thoughts on developing an art style which feels personal and particular to you.

Our art is an expression of who we are…

Our art is such a personal expression of who we are, our experiences, our fascinations and our curiosities.

In my tutorials and content I am conscious and careful that I don’t want to teach anyone how to make art that looks like mine; I want to encourage, cheerlead and share advice about how to make art that feels and looks wondrously and uniquely yours...

The art we make is an extension of who we are and what we are interested in, so it needs to feel like it belongs to us, that it came from our hand and our heart.

And I think that is what developing our art style is all about, it’s about ensuring our art feels like we’ve made it, it’s about making art which feels completely ours, an expression of us, a reflection of who we are and what we are fascinated and curious about. .

Make lots of art

I frequently get asked about how I developed my style of art and how others should develop theirs. I believe the way to develop your style is to make a lot of art, average art, beautiful art, any art…we have to try things out, experiment, not know where it is taking us…

Seek signposts

It is only when you have made a significant amount of work, become more comfortable in your skills and tried numerous approaches that you can look back through it and see what it is signalling to you. The art you make contains important signposts to your style.

Get inquisitive

Look at a selection of art you have made and get inquisitive and question yourself:

• What aspects do I particularly relish?

• What appeal to me?

• What speaks to me within my own art?

• What do I enjoy making?

• How do I enjoy making it?

• What kind of marks do I relish using?

• How does my art feel?

• How would I describe my art?

Ask questions about your own art and listen to your answers they contain powerful clues.

Follow the clues

Think about your art, the subject matter, the technique, the materials, the colours, the marks, the feeling that it stirs, paying attention to what we are drawn to in our own art is the key to creating distinctive, personal art that feels like it is ours.

Evolving and changing

Our art style is an ongoing conversation with ourselves, an expression and voice for who we are and what we are interested in. Our art style is not a fixed thing, which we arrive at and never depart from. The way we make art is us sharing our point of view, our opinion, interpreting the world and our place in it…and as such elements of our style will change and evolve and elements will remain constant. I’ve been making art for twenty years now and my style feels to me as if it is in constant slow motion, it changes and evolves and takes on new iterations and elements and sometimes it circles back to themes and ideas…

In one sentence…

To develop our art style we have to make lots of art, reflect on the art we have made, get curious about the aspects of it that light us up and do more of that. It’s a continual process of taking note of what we love within our own creations and doing more of it…

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…

One page sketchbooks

In this video I show you how to make a simple sketchbook from one piece of paper and a way to tidy them up by gluing and cutting.

I make these simple one page sketchbooks very frequently and have for many years. There is something extremely tactile and pleasing about their intimate scale. 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, I happen to have a lot of heavy watercolour paper (350gsm) and I use that but you can use what you have to hand, you could even use cheap computer paper. These sketchbooks end up with 8 sides, so the end result will always be an eighth of the size of the paper you started with…

I sometimes begin the art work before the page is folded into a sketchbook, there is something about the surprising and unexpected compositions that come with the folding which I enjoy.

I’ve made them from abandoned drawings or from scrap pieces of paper, reusing and recycling and making something from not very much. I might take a painting that hasn’t quite worked and use it for the start of one of these art books, adding collage, painting over sections, turning the unloved into the loved.

Thank you to artist Sue Brown for the idea of gluing these sketchbooks. you can of course just make them by folding and one cut if you want to keep them super simple (the gluing helps if you are using thicker paper and want to neaten them up, because thick paper doesn’t fold as well and so the end result can get a little wonky.)

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…

Inside the art journal of Frida Kahlo

THE DIARY OF FRIDA KAHLO: AN INTIMATE SELF PORTRAIT

In this video I take you inside the art journal or visual diary of the artist Frida Kahlo. I share the book: The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self Portrait published in 1995 by Abradale Press an in-print of Abrams Books, with subsequent reprints in later years. You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website, it is still in print today…

It’s a book which I come back to time and again.

Frida Kahlo, one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century, was born in Mexico in 1907 and is famous for her self-portraits, characterised by vibrant colours and powerful symbolic imagery,

This book fully replicates 170 pages of her visual journal or sketchbook. She worked in the book for the last ten years of her life between circa 1945 and 1955 and it gives a intimate insight into the woman and the artist.

INTROSPECTION AND EXPRESSION

Her diary or sketchbook, I think, reflects both a deep introspection and bold self-expression. She has clearly used this book as a means of exploring her inner thoughts, emotions, and personal experiences, her identity and her place in the world.

IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM

It’s packed with symbolic imagery, metaphors, personal, political, religious and cultural iconography all patch-worked together.

Pages from Frida Kahlo’s visual diary

EXPLORATION AND EXPERIMENTATION

It also shows all sorts of artistic exploration and experimentation, she mixes up various techniques, styles, and art materials. She combines elements of realism, surrealism with symbols and motifs to create a visually rich, and at times bewildering and beguiling whole.

I think she is exploring her personal pain and suffering and yet it also clearly demonstrates her magnificent wit, playful spirit and vibrancy…

Her journal feels like a significant work of self-expression, resilience and creativity…and I think it’s just fascinating.