Back to Unkown Seas

I have finished my 'old' sketch book. It has only taken some 3 years to do. Originally began when on holiday in Dorset, next another holiday in Brittany and then continuously, when I was at work, I would try and go out at lunch for a break to find something to draw. Usually, I would be looking for a landscape or a certain tree or shapes to draw.

Each sketch would aim to be about 1/2 hour or shorter. So there could not be any messing around. My original thought was to restrict myself to now using black and just use colour felts to put down it down.

Yet I now find that in working through previous and this latest sketch book that I have begun to change. I went back to using rotring nibs and drawing intricate architectural pictures, something that I would not normally considered. Gradually, people have crept in, but not as good as I would like, possibly down to the speed and use of pens. My preference is for a slow and steady buildup of an image. Going back to buildings is easy as they are static, the colour might change slightly, but essentially it is there.

Another surprise was the discovery of a liking for drawing the horses at the nearby stables. Maybe the idea had been buried for some while living so close and just being close with some spare time. I sat and drew. It was step into the unknown.

This is why when you start a new sketch book is scary. As this is new page literally, I want it to be a perfect, but I know that it is now always going to be true. Earlier in my life, the way I found to get the trap of having to have the perfect notebook was to use loose leaf files, so you could take out what you don't want, but I missed the feel, shape of having a 'solid board case' as it gives you some stability, when working.

The other technique was deciding to paper over the piece I didn't like and give you an new page. It has the benefit that it would create layers of contrasting depth, so you could 'cut' into the paper below by working the paper with an eraser.

When I know that I getting close to finishing a sketch book, I am already on the look out for a new one that I can use. The book itself has to be plain with good paper - a smooth cartridge, usually calendared or with a small layer of coating is used for the felt pens, but I do have some standard uncoated cartridge for pencils and other media. I like to use mixed media, I have to be careful not to use pens that will bleed into the paper or sink through to the image below.

With each sketch book you are hoping that it will be perfect and my just pulling a mark in it. You are committing yourself to new ideas and thoughts waiting out in the unknown to be discovered.