This is the latest book I read, I’ve had it for a couple years and sometimes, you just have to stop and make time to read. I started it a couple weeks ago, the beginning is interesting and the end was informative, it also included lots of websites to research (YEAH!!).  The book is about the different ways textile artists, collage artists, etc. use their sketch books and the different information a sketch book may contain.  Sketches as varied as, how to diagrams with notes, to sketches alone, to sketches with notes to enhance the memory of the sketch.

I started using sketch books after I purchased Ellie, my long arm quilting machine. I was not a doodler prior to Ellie, I liked playing with fonts like calligraphy and other odd styles for lettering but not doodling.  Learning to long arm quilt has a lot to do with muscle memory so doodling became a must if I wanted to pay my business loan for Ellie.  That said, I doodled all the time – from TV time to business meetings, I doodled anything from loops and hearts, to feathers, to ferns and any other shape I could come up with.  I didn’t  go anywhere without a sketch pad and a pen.

Pens are the recommended practice tool in long arm classes because a pencil makes it too tempting to erase and perfect your shape. When it comes to machine quilting, you really don’t want to be ripping stitches to fix a shape.  Essentially, practice doodling with pen is a commitment from the initial movement of your hand.

Lately (the last year or two) I’ve been way too busy with my real world job and somehow my sketch book found its way out of my daily work bag. So this book was inspiration to add a little weight to my bag and carry, simply, a spiral bound sketch book (65 lb. paper) and slide a black pen into the ringed spine(black against the white paper is always impactful).

I went to my family’s cottage on Sunday to do some yard work, a little real world work and sketch for a little bit. If you’ve been to one of my lectures you know – I am not skilled at drawing and my doodles look much better in stitch than pen.  Well although it was a beautiful day, I forgot my house keys and ended up doing yard work the whole time except for the last 15 minutes when I sketched.

Sometimes it doesn’t have to be the best book you’ve ever read, as long as you learn something new or in this case, I was reassured by knowing my sketchbook processes are similar to what a lot of other people are doing. In this case, discovering all the different sketchbook processes from the book reminded and motivated me to return to a process that definitely enhances my creativity, I thank the author for that.