New Sketchbook Not Sorry

100 Day Project Day 40

I’ve been working in my sketchbooks today. I’m currently drawn to an A5 spiral bound one that is filling up nicely. I also pulled out a blank A4 sketchbook, and started it off with four pages of painting. I recently bought two different sketchbook roughly this size, three if you count the slightly smaller Stillman & Birn one I was obsessed with a while back. The book I started today was none of these. It’s a hardback, cheap, unbranded one that, as far as I can see, is no longer in the range at the discount store I bought it from a few years ago.

This almost guarantees that I will fall in love with the paper and format and forever be bereft that I only have one.

Since I’m upping my game with my sketchbook practise, I wrote today’s date on the front page, to get started. I quite often leave the front pages blank because there’s a feeling the front of a book should be pretty. I don’t want to feel that way about my sketchbooks any more, because I want to just use them the way they are meant to be used, for exploration, play, and mess. Ugly is good.

So, I dived in with an Inktense block and some clear gesso – a favourite combination – and scribbled a loose face. I’ve just left it at that for the first page, although I would normally push the face to a more resolved place with paint or whatever, but I liked the idea of the first page being unresolved and unfinished, as a counter to that received un-wisdom about leaving the pages blank to put something pretty in later.

In the end I painted on four pages, and that’s a good start. Because there’s no branding or packaging, I have no idea what the paper weight is, but I’m going to guess around 160gsm. It’s taking paint, and it will bloom a little, just the way I like, so I’m happy.

I got another new sketchbook today, but I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it. It’s much larger, and I really think I have all that I need for my sketchbook practise to flow.

I’m not placing any bets, tho……

Til the morn,

Suzanne