The Sketchbook!

Sketching, whether in a book, on paper, or on a napkin, can be an important part of the creative process for an artist. Have you ever had the opportunity to look at the sketch book of an artist? I have, not in person, but I have seen some online.

A sketchbook contains the seedling that becomes a flower

There’s just something about seeing the creative mind behind an artist you admire, or even one you are not familiar with, through their progressive works.

To try to delve into the thought behind their imagination.

Some sketch books contain work so complete, right down to colour and fine details, that it should be a coffee table piece of art, a conversation starter, a collection of the artist’s art, all bound up in one small space.

I yearn to be that kind of sketch book artist

I have always dreamed of being one of those artists, one whose sketch book, is itself alone, a wonderful work of art!

To see the beginning of a piece take shape in thought only, and grow into something of complete wonder and magnificence.

But, I am also content just knowing I have filled my time lost in creativity. Lost in a world where I can make anything I want be anything I want.

In my books, my art need not conform to anyone else's ideas but my own. I can swim in my creations, coming up for air only when the tank has run dry.

The purpose of my sketchbook

My sketch book, or should I say books, because I maintain more than one, appear to be mere marks on paper rather than to actually be considered art.

Some contain my sewing design patterns, others house my colouring book illustrations, a few cover practice and study pieces, and the rest are just a conglomeration of anything and everything with no sense of order whatsoever.

They fulfill a need in me to either quickly get down an idea, or to bring an idea to the point where I can convert it over to my chosen base, ready to be given true life.

Sketchbooks are reminders. I love being able to look back and see ideas I had forgotten about. Ideas half completed. Ideas fully formed. Parts I struggled with. Parts I succeeded with.

When your mind is blank and your inspiration low, a walk through your sketchbook can change your frown and turn it upside down, until suddenly the creative juices start flowing again and you are off to make another sketch. It is so exciting to be able to take a piece of your sketchbook and make it more. To make it more than a few lines on paper. More than a few blurred images from your eraser marks. Just more.

Somewhat a private affair

Full of cherished pieces of work, semblances of ideas, secrets of the mind, they are like diaries kept under lock and key.

More often than not, they're a mysterious sort of beast. Hidden away from sight for only the artist to observe, a rare share being a treasure indeed.

Should you ever have the opportunity to flip through an artist's sketchbook, take the time to enjoy every moment of it, capture every detail, and count yourself as privileged, for you have just entered into the mind of an artist!

This last image shows part of a completed conceptual sketch and then the revised piece destined for a colouring book. Along the way I turned it into an embroidery for a special gift, of which you can see the final evolution here.

_{art, photo, design & embroidery © Heather Johnsgaard} *********************************************

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