Sketch Books
I use sketchbooks a lot. I nearly always carry one or have one near me; if I haven't it is a mistake and I feel uneasy. I don't like this feeling so I very rarely allow it to occur.
I use sketchbooks in two main ways. In the studio I have several sketchbooks on the go at any one time. They are for the different projects I am involved with - for some odd reason I like to keep them separate. So I may have a close observational drawing book; an ideas for paintings book; a book containing designs for various events (i.e birthdays, Christmas, book illustrations and cartoons); and one for just general ideas and doodles. This all sounds very pigeon holely; in reality it doesn't work like this and just about all of my sketchbooks end up with bits of everything in them.
The other way that I use sketchbooks is to record the world around me. I usually carry a Moleskine A6 watercolour sketchbook and near at hand will be a small watercolour box. When dog walking I carry an A5 or A4. In these books I draw and paint the places that I go. I often write in them so they also act as a kind of visual diary - essential to me as my recall seems to be getting worse by the minute. I don't ever take pages out, so the whole book, when I finish it, becomes a piece of my art work.
I use sketchbooks in two main ways. In the studio I have several sketchbooks on the go at any one time. They are for the different projects I am involved with - for some odd reason I like to keep them separate. So I may have a close observational drawing book; an ideas for paintings book; a book containing designs for various events (i.e birthdays, Christmas, book illustrations and cartoons); and one for just general ideas and doodles. This all sounds very pigeon holely; in reality it doesn't work like this and just about all of my sketchbooks end up with bits of everything in them.
The other way that I use sketchbooks is to record the world around me. I usually carry a Moleskine A6 watercolour sketchbook and near at hand will be a small watercolour box. When dog walking I carry an A5 or A4. In these books I draw and paint the places that I go. I often write in them so they also act as a kind of visual diary - essential to me as my recall seems to be getting worse by the minute. I don't ever take pages out, so the whole book, when I finish it, becomes a piece of my art work.