I am My Sketchbook....

I am nearing the end of another sketchbook! I just have a few more page spreads to go, and I will get to begin a new sketchbook.  I am thinking the start of a new one might just coincide with some travel, so that will be fun!

I don't often share sketchbook pages here, or anywhere, for that matter. If I feel that I'll have other people looking into my sketchbooks, I fret over the sketches, and they are no longer fun for me. I do not sketch daily, but almost daily- a minimum of 3-4 times a week.

This sketchbook was begun shortly after New Years this year. The past few books have been in Moleskine's large sketchbooks. They are 5" x 8 1/4" and have a lovely cream colored paper that resists watercolor a bit; just enough to add texture. They come in red and black, and the hard cover is easy to draw on with permanent markers or gel pens, so I 'decorate' them myself. I also date the spine, so I can look at the book while it is on the shelf, and tell when it was filled.

"I am the sketchbook"  Pablo Picasso

My sketchbooks have become very valuable to me. They are not valuable as 'art,' but as a journal of my days, months, years, and moments. I have kept a written journal for a long number of years; perhaps 20 years or more. But these sketchbooks capture things not covered in my written words, or are at least covered in a different way.

The past couple of sketchbooks, I have begun and ended with a self-portrait. It may be sketched from a childhood photo, or from looking in the mirror, but it is fun to look at myself occasionally, and to see the passage of time, both in my face and in my sketching style.

I already have my next sketchbook. It is black. I do not know what will be in it, anymore than I know what will fill my days for the 104 pages worth of sketches. Starting a new sketchbook is, to me, like beginning a new year; full of possibility. In fact, up until this time, I have pretty much filled just one book per year, but I am sketching more now than I used to. I also used to have separate sketchbooks for travel, for tapestry design ideas, for quotes and notes from other people, and for drawing practice. But now all that is in my everyday sketchbook. I like that change, too, as I don't have to go looking through several partially filled sketchbooks to find what I'm looking for.

I have become a very enthusiastic keeper of a sketchbook. And I think, as Martha Stewart would say, that is a very Good Thing.

p.s.  I am not in any way associated with Moleskine. I just love their products! In fact, in going to their site to get the link for this post, I just discovered this journal, which I also just ordered. It is what I have always needed, if I'd only known it!