I’ve been having a tidy-up in my workroom and trying to round up All the Sketchbooks. Turns out there are a few more than I thought.
Some are complete, some are nearly complete, and some are completely empty. I do like a well-dressed sketchbook, so you know what’s going to happen next.
I have a little 6″ square Seawhite sketchbook (140 gsm cartridge paper) where I put paint scraps – leftover paint from another project, not enough for a new thing but too much to pour away. Then I go back in and add marks/other media, with no real plan. However hard I try to keep each sketchbook to a theme, they always end up being a fairly random collection of colours and marks.
The cover for this one is made from hand-dyed silk organza and dress net, roughly cut into circles and rings, layered onto some plain calico. Then I’ve covered it with very sheer nylon chiffon and stitched some simple lines and marks over the surface to hold it all together. I’m very bad at stitching text so I’ve sandwiched a small piece of handwritten card on the spine between the chiffon and some net.
If anyone’s interested in the contents, here are a few pages showing how simple it can be:
I recently got some Roman Szmal watercolours to try, just a starter set of five, and I really like the Caput Mortuum and Aquarius Green:
Mostly this book (so far) consists of various rings and circles, hence the design on the cover.
There are lots more books needing covers, so there’s more than enough here to keep me busy over the coming months. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, do you have long/ongoing projects planned for the coming winter?
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I wish I could draw! Love your designs
thanks so much Sue. I’m not sure this counts as ‘drawing’ though – just mark making really, all very sketchy.
Love this and particularly your Klee adventures Karen, well done !
thank you, yes Klee is one of my favourite artists
Almost all of your mark-making (to me) ‘looks like you’, i.e. as if they are sketches about to be stitched 😍
thanks Naomi. For now they’re just sketches but yes, so many of the marks already look like stitches…
How lovely tho get to peek inside your sketchbooks. They are so special. A joy to see. Thank you.
thanks so much Anne, just me playing really.
I did used to paint and draw a lot but over the last few years I’ve gotten more into textile art. I have a friend who showed me eco-printing and felting so I now have a pile of ‘experiments’ which I’m starting to use in stitching projects. Earlier this year I purchased your Cup and Ring wallhanging pattern which I really enjoyed, thank you 🙂 I’m currently working on a piece which is about 40″ by 48″ using eco-print scraps stitched onto a thrifted vintage curtain lining with running stitch. It was going to be my Winter project but the Summer here was awful so it’s almost finished (I live in Co. Kerry, Ireland) I also have a couple of other projects in the works.
I’ve recently dug out my art supplies and am trying to cultivate a daily habit similar to what you have shown here. I don’t really design my pieces but I’d like to have a bit of a sample book of colours and marks that I can use for my stitching. I love making journals and covers but haven’t really used them yet.
Thank you for sharing your process and for being such an inspiration for me 🙂
Thanks so much, Dawn, I’m so glad you enjoyed the Cup and Ring pattern. We see the weather for Ireland on the national forecast and it seems to be constantly raining over there. No wonder Ireland is so green! Not surprising really that you’ve nearly finished your winter project, given the summer you’ve had.
I’m committing to some sketchbook work every day, as I struggle to find the time otherwise, and I’m really enjoying reconnecting with a daily practice on paper. Hope you enjoy your work on paper as much as the lovely eco fabrics you’ve been working with.
So very beautiful! I love your work. You inspired me to do daily stitching; I so enjoy just playing with no goal in mind and no judgement. Like sketching with thread. Even if one of them looks wonky, together they all look great.
exactly that, Celeste, thank you. It really doesn’t matter if one of the daily stitching blocks isn’t as eye-catching as the others; as you say, you see them all together as one piece. And in my experience it’s precisely when you’re not ‘trying’ to make something that you end up doing your best work. So glad you’re enjoying it.
What a great idea – I always have odd bits of paint to clear up. Acrylic paint on rollers always goes onto brown paper that can be crumpled and stitched into eventually. But I always need a home for watercolours so guess who’s about to start a new sketchbook! Thank you. x PS Another new sketchbook! Like you I have loads
ha, you can never have too many sketchbooks 🙂 But yes,it is useful to have somewhere to deposit leftover paints etc. I also have another sketchbook the same as this where I test colours before putting them down on paper, and the pages of that can turn out to be quite interesting too. Enjoy your new sketchbook!
I love the idea of covers. I know you’ve done them before, but tbh, before starting the paper piecing class, I didn’t think much of them as I knew I didn’t have the skills to do them. now though …. hmmm! (I’m going back to the class this weekend as offline life has been very demanding.)
you use some of my favorite colors. I have always been far more representational than not, and I am still trying to wrap my mind around the ideas of mark making as an end result that actually is fun and looks lovely. it’s always a joy to see inside one of your sketchbooks and get a better idea of what mark making can do beyond just be practice for something else, all marching along like soldiers. this is far more fun.
and I love Seawhite. I have a couple of 6×6 and a couple of 8x8s. I really wanted square sketchbooks and the Moleskine one is so expensive that I looked around and found these.
beyond classwork, I am just working with Dyna-flo and other dyes/paints to get a feel for how to control them. this is very new to me, but needed for my big project and what is basically holding it up. but the short version is: yes, I have a big project planned. 🙂
sorry, this ended up a very long comment! 🙃
I love long comments 🙂
It’s taken me a while to embrace ‘mark-making’ as a Thing, as an end in itself – never really understood it as a concept – but it seems to be one of those things that is experiential rather than theoretical. It is fun, and it does unlock something, I find. If nothing else, it makes you feel like a proper artist, and if (like me) Captain Imposter is always looking over your shoulder, it does help to immerse you in the process.
I do like a muted palette, though sometimes (and here’s another good reason for a sketchbook) I like to try something brighter.
Sketchbook covers are fun to make (at least, that’s my idea of fun 😆) and can be as easy or complicated as you like. This one is literally just shapes laid on calico, covered with something sheer, with some very simple stitches over the top. Very satisfying.
Glad you’re having some fun with dye-na-flow – they can be difficult to control but I really like the way they don’t stiffen the fabric. I’ve had a little play with fabric paints this week, the usual paint-kind, and they do change the hand a bit but not as much as I expected.
Good luck with the Big Project!
I just love this cover. The sketches inside the book are wonderful too.
thanks so much Emma 🙂
Wish I had your talent and skills: totally love your watercolours, the shapes and the colourways are stunning. Would you consider making these into small posters or postcards?
Best regards from the Netherlands,
Barbara
thanks so much, Barbara, that’s very kind. I hope to have some art available on cards etc next year, so watch this space. In the meantime you can get some of my designs on cards, posters, stickers etc from my Red Bubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/k-j-turner/shop?asc=u
Very nice!
thanks so much 😊
I like the way you’ve sandwiched the hand-written card between layers – I share your dislike for embroidering text (you’d never know, seeing the Title and Surtitle/Subtitle on the two big Amarna panels!!), and I love your solution. It avoids the whole hassle!
ha, you’re right, you’d never know! But yes, this is much easier and quicker, and definitely stress-free 😀