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. )

Over and over. Again and again.

Repetition isn’t boring. Returning to the same subject, again and again can be illuminating.

It’s not unoriginal. It’s a way of noticing, paying attention, discovering.

A way of building muscle memory, of distilling what you love.

Each return becomes an ongoing creative conversation. Not a rut, more like a rhythm.

A variation on a theme as old as art-making itself.

You don’t always need something new.

Sometimes you just need to stay. To linger. To return.

To pay closer attention to what already lights you up.

That’s how you learn about yourself as an artist. Again and again. Over and over…

P.S. These sketchbook pages grew out of an idea I teach inside Sketchbook Magic: Experimenting with Colour & Pattern If you’d like to try it too, the class is always open, always available for £20.

Joy as a compass…

I used to think I had to “find my style.” Pick a lane. Pick a niche. Pick a version of myself that made sense on the internet.

But the more I tried to choose...the less like me it all felt. So I stopped chasing a style. And I started following joy.

The delight of a scribbled mark.

Colour combinations that made my heart sing.

The lines that happen when you’re not overthinking, when you’re not trying too hard. And after years of this, I can tell you: You don’t have to find your style. If you follow what feels good, it’ll find you.

You don’t have to find your style. If you follow what feels good, it’ll find you.

Because joy isn’t just a feeling or a byproduct of art making. It’s the compass. The method. The map that leads you home within your own your art.

Paying attention to all the things you love in your own art is the best way I know to make art that feels good and that embodies your style…

P.S. Joy Filled Flowers is a self-paced sketchbook class that helps you loosen up, experiment with mixed media, and bring joy back into your creative process and sketchbook practice. Online. On-demand. £58

From bold colour to black and white.

Music credit: Beauty in the Mundane by Bird of Figment

I’ve just finished some colourful paintings. But in my sketchbook things are black and white.

Sold out

The Tree of Magic and Lights

£320.00

Sold out

The Tree of Dreams and Whispers

£320.00

There’s a kind of ease I find in black and white. 
A clarity. A calmness. A confidence.

Colour is beautiful, but it asks for a lot of decisions.
 Black and white strips that away. 


No second-guessing shades. No hunting for the perfect combination.
 That’s why I often return to monochrome as a sketchbook practice. Just simple tools and simple choices.

It lets me get going and keep going.

Simple and strong

It’s not plain. It’s powerful.
 High contrast. Strong composition.
 Every mark holds more presence and fewer choices mean more flow.

Working in black and white helps me focus more on composition, 
the shapes, the balance, the space between things.
 There’s a simplicity to it that I find really pleasing.

Fewer choices. More momentum.

When the palette is limited, I notice different things: 
The weight of a line.
The balance of space. 
The relationship between forms.

Composition becomes clearer.
 Decisions come faster.
 There’s less second-guessing. More doing.

Why it works (especially when life feels full)

Because simplicity quietens the noise.
 Because constraints build momentum.
 Because joy often lives in the simplest things.

Black and white invites you to notice more, not less. 
To pare back. To pay attention.
 To create without pressure.

And sometimes it just feels very satisfying.

Try this:


Next time you feel stuck, try removing colour from the equation.
 Pick up one pen, one pencil, one sheet and begin. You might be surprised by how powerful simple can feel.

Books mentioned in video

How Painting Happens and Why is Matters by Martin Gayford, published by Thanes and Hudson, 2024

Barbara Rae Monograph, published by The Royal Academy 2025

Links to artist mentioned in video

Jadé Fadojutimi

Barbara Rae

Materials and art supplies mentioned in video

I purchase a lot of my pens, pencils and inks from an independent British shop called Cult Pens it has a phenomenal range and great customer service.

It has a refer a friend programme, so if you use this link to purchase you can get 10% off your first purchase and I get a 10% discount off my next purchase too. Or here are the direct links with no discount:

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen

Sailor Fude de Mannen Calligraphy Fountain Pen

De Atramentis Ink

Sketchbook

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

(This is an affiliate link, if you buy something through this, I might earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)

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PS: My self-paced online art classes are here to support possibility and play, with lessons built around exploration, composition, and the unexpected details that make your work feel truly yours. No pressure. Just quiet encouragement, creative rhythm, and joyful exploration. Start anytime. Come back often. Make more art..

Tired and uninspired? Borrow my sketchbook ritual

When I’m tired, under-inspired, or my mojo feels a little so-so, I don’t reach for brilliance. I try not to expect too much of myself. I reach for my sketchbook, a place to meander, freewheel, and gently find my way back to creativity.

No pressure. No performance. Just low-stakes creating. I don’t perfect. I don’t polish. I don’t pretend. I open my sketchbook. Not like it’s an art gallery, but a playground. Its pages aren’t for applause or approval. They’re a route back to delight. A sketchbook isn’t the stage. It’s the backstage.

My gentle rituals

Here’s what helps when I need to soften the edges of perfectionism:

1. Start easy

Look for the simplest way in. Often I’ll dig out something I’ve already made and use it like a guide rope into something new. When the goal is simply to begin, familiarity becomes fuel.Reassuring. Cosy. Comforting.

2. Limit supplies

Less choice. Less decisions. More play.

In this video I just use a little Indian ink from Jackson’s art and one Derwent Inktense pencil in my Fabriano Sketchbook. The large brush I am using is a pointed mop brush

Ps. These are affiliate links to products I use myself and genuinely enjoy in my own sketchbook practice. Thank you for supporting me if you choose to use them.

3. Narrow the palette

Constraints aren’t a cage. They free you from the overwhelm of too many options.

4. Set a short timeframe

Give yourself a short timeframe. Long enough to soften resistance. Short enough to slip past perfectionism.

5. Add surprise

Something playful. Unexpected. A strange mix of materials. A new way to hold the brush. A weird tool. Surprise isn’t just fun it leads to discovery.

Inspiration arrives quietly

Inspiration doesn’t arrive on command. It tiptoes in through low expectations and inky hands. A sketchbook isn’t about getting it right. It’s about finding your way back to flow. Back to energy. Back to the part of you that creates simply because it feels good to create. It’s where the mess is allowed. I like the idea of joy wearing joggers. Joy returns in those relaxed moments when we’re not forcing or performing, or chasing some false idea of what "good" looks like.

Because good looks like doing something. Anything at all.

A sketchbook isn’t a stage. It’s a place of freedom.

So next time you feel tired or uninspired, don’t reach for brilliance.

Reach for the simplest starting point.

Reach for the messy lines.

Reach for the small thing may bring you joy.

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P.S. Want more supportive creative guidance? Explore my self-paced classes here, full of joyful, no-pressure lessons to nurture your art practice.

Don’t edit your soul: eclectic creativity

When I started working as an artist I thought that it was important to be known for one thing, to have one definite signature style, that perhaps having multiple creative interests at once was evidence of a lack of focus, a lack of commitment, that it was a form of indecision. I was wrong. I’ve discovered that the more I follow my diverse curiosities, the more I let them overlap and combine, the more personal and rewarding my art making becomes. Your art doesn’t have to be just one thing.

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

Quote Source: Anne Rice in the Foreword to The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka. Translation to English by Willa and Edwin Muir,  1995 Schocken Books, New York

Don’t water it down. Don’t make it logical. Don’t edit your soul.

A web of ideas, not a straight line

Our art is a web of ideas, influences, and obsessions entwined and weaved together. I’m always gathering fragments, following multiple ideas at once, and trusting that, the connections will reveal themselves.

Over time, I’ve realised that my numerous inspirations, ideas and techniques aren’t separate at all, they’re just waiting to be woven together. Seemingly unrelated ideas often merge in surprising ways, creating something richer and more personal than I could have planned. Creativity is found in the connections. It thrives in the in-between places, in the surprising combinations, in the moments when you say, What if I put this with that?

Painting in progress

Shapes and ideas in older sketchbooks

Paintings in progress

Interesting colour combinations

Notes to myself

A pile of sketchbooks

Sketchbook pages from 2021

Old sketchbook pages

Embracing diverse fascinations

We each have a distinct visual language, a distinct set of interests, shaped by our experiences, influences, and life. The magic happens when we allow these curiosities to run free, to overlap, mix and combine. When we embrace all the disparate pieces of our art, of ourselves, of our obsessions, of our small and large love affairs…we build a body of work that is undeniably ours.

Finding combinations and correlations

For me, a sketchbook is more than a place to experiment, it’s where I notice and gather all the loose threads of my creativity, unedited, unfiltered. It is where I pursue, unpick and unpack my varied obsessions and fascinations.

It’s a personal space to explore without pressure. A place to see how different ideas interact. A place to let patterns emerge naturally. Over time, I’ve found that the act of collecting, curating, and layering ideas in my sketchbook has allowed me to know more about myself as an artist. Gathering and noticing. Gathering and noticing. Gathering and noticing.

We are the makers of our own music

Even when ideas seem scattered, they’re never truly separate. We are the conductors of the orchestra and the makers of the music. Some ideas rise to the surface, while others linger quietly, waiting for the right moment, some combine to make a compelling harmony.

Loose ends and messy pieces

The beauty of an eclectic approach is that it allows for unexpected connections, ones we might never have discovered if we had tried to force everything into a rigid or logical framework. So, embrace the loose ends. Trust that the disparate threads of your creativity will find their way together in time if they need to. Don’t edit your soul.

Your unique artistic voice isn’t found in how neatly everything aligns, it’s in how you weave together all the messy pieces that make you, you.

Artists and books mentioned in the video

• Book: Patrick Heron, by Mel Gooding, 1995 published by Phaidon Press

• Patrick Heron info on Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert art gallery website

• Pierre Bonnard article from the Tate Modern

• Cezanne article from the Art Institute of Chicago

• Franz Kafka’s Drawings article from Artland Magazine

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