While cleaning my studio space, I noticed my small stack of sketchbooks had begun to rise. Spine by spine, the modest structure grew to a height I hadn’t anticipated. I knew I had a few abandoned sketchbooks, but I hadn’t realized just how many I had accumulated. These are not new journals with clean pages. These are journals whose foremost pages contain some inky fragment of my life. A few could be considered full- but most have plenty of room for further additions.
This small tower of paper made me proud and slightly ashamed at the same time. Some of those journal dates extended back a full decade! This surprised me. I picked up a square softcover sketchbook with inky owls – a favorite. I had ordered the paper, cut the paper, stitched the paper, and painted the cover. It made me smile. I flipped through several hardcover travel sized books and realized how much I enjoyed the entries that illustrated my day. I winced at the many empty pages of my much anticipated Japanese Hobonichi- but I just hadn’t fallen in love with the paper. The larger the journal the emptier its pages. One had been set aside for “polished” entries. Another had been started simply for ideation. This segregation by purpose disturbed me. It felt joyless.
What good is a sketchbook if it doesn’t give me a joyful environment to grow, experiment, and express myself? Moving forward I am promising myself to NOT treat my sketchbooks as a place for “precious” creating but as a place to record my day and foster my growth.
Do you keep journals? If so, I would LOVE to hear about your journal habits. Do you write in them, draw in them, keep bullet lists?
In the Studio
I am focused on cats at the moment- a subject I have never tackeled. As a dog owner, I have simply never turned my attention to cats. But a recent project has guided my hand to the study of cats. If you are a cat owner, I would like to see favorite pictures or hear funny stories about your cat as I delve into the mysterious world of cats.
Looking ahead, I will be setting up a booth in September at a local arts and crafts fair. So I am beginning to think about the upcoming holidays- I bet some cats will creep in!
