How I Use Sketchbooks…

It’s been all over the art blogs and Instagram. People are sharing their sketchbook practice and images of their sketchbooks. I used to never use sketchbooks because… well, I don’t really spend a lot of time sketching. I just paint or move textiles around and then something happens and honestly, it’s never something that I’ve planned. I have no idea where I’m going with a piece of artwork until it tells me where to go.

Recently though, I have created some sketchbooks for specific purposes. One to tape or glue in business and post cards from artists that I meet. Another to make swatches of colors that I might want to use to create a series of work. Just little things like that to help me organize my pile of post it notes and scraps of paper that I jot things down on. It’s a good studio practice and investing the time to do it actually does save me time later.

My latest sketchbook explores the concept is CONTRAST. Contrast is an important thing in artwork. It invites the unexpected and adds variety. If everything is the same in a piece, there’s no spark of interest. I often use the question “What don’t I have?” when I am painting to create variety and contrast.

In these images you can see the contrasting elements of art and my thoughts on how each element translate into a feeling in the artwork. I have about 25 pages altogether, but I’ve shared just a few here.

High Contrast vs Low contrast

Bold color shift vs subtle color shift

Density vs space

Balanced vs Unbalanced

Do you use sketchbooks? If so, how and what benefit do you get from making them? Leave a comment or ask a question.

Thanks for checking out the blog and I wish you a creative day!