Creative Prompts #4

Let’s make sketchbook practice fun

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Exciting announcement!! Join me and

Citlaflor

for a FREE Christmas session next Friday (December 20) at 8pm Central European Time! We will spend some lovely time together creating festive-themed art. We prepared no-stress and fun ideas for some last minute pre-holiday play!

​For this session feel free to to use whatever you have on hand, but we recommend having:

• Paint (acrylics, gouache or watercolor - something that dries relatively fast) or dry media.

• ​Paper (we recommend having at least size A3)

• ​Scissors

You can register HERE. I hope to see you there!!

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Welcome to my series of creative prompts devoted to exploring different topics, techniques and processes.

This month is all about sketchbooks and how you can use them in your creative practice! I LOVE sketchbooks and working in them for the past year helped me a lot in establishing a more regular and intentional art practice. Working in sketchbooks is also freeing, playful and enjoyable.

Here are some ideas for your practice:

• Use your sketchbook as a learning & documenting tool. Feel free to write down notes, thoughts and reflections, add colour swatches, studies, collage papers, etc. Write down dates & places on your sketchbook pages. It will add additional meaning to the work.

• Sketchbooks are for experimenting, playing and trying new ideas. Keep adding, layering, covering. Designate sketchbooks for various purposes - drawing, colour or value studies, landscapes, etc. Keep sketchbooks for “discarded art” and ideas for future reference.

• Give yourself a time limit - e.g. 5, 10, 20 minutes to finish a page. Use this time to quickly capture a scene, object, composition or to block in colours and shapes.

• Repetition is good! Repeat the same ideas several times and learn what you like and want to use more in your artwork. Push ideas further (try other backgrounds, supplies, add new marks, details).

• Experiment with format. Try sketchbooks with various background colours and paper types. Learn what sites work better for you. Create your own sketchbooks and experiment with bookbinding, materials, covers:

Handmade mixed media sketchbooks

Three approaches to finding a composition

Studio Notes: Creating in the in-between

A sketchbook is a place to “plant seeds” for future work. You can bring experiments from your sketchbooks into new substrates, push and explore your ideas further. Sometimes use the whole page, sometimes divide the page into small quadrants, sometimes work across both pages.

Also remember - sketchbooks can be considered as finished artwork or collection of work, you don’t have to necessarily use them for other purposes - it is up to the artist to decide!

Thank you for reading and being here! Feel free to share these prompts with a creative friend. I’ll be happy to hear from you in the comments! What are your favourite ways to work in a sketchbook?

Until next time!

Lisa