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A sketchbook really is a painter’s best friend.
(Of course, it can be your best friend even if you don’t paint!)
Here are 7 excellent reasons a watercolour painter should get out their sketchbook today.
1.Unbeatable Simplicity of Sketchbooks
All you need is a sketchbook and a pencil and you can get going. There is just no beating the simplicity of the sketchbook.
Even though watercolour is easy to set up and clean up (compared to say oil or even acrylic paint) there are times when even that can just seem like too much.
One dismisses the idea and nudges the creative urge aside. But there’s no need for that if you have a sketchbook. Flip it open, grab your pencil and off you go.
We can easily overcomplicate things and talk ourselves out of creating - even when we know it would probably make us feel quite good if we actually did it.
2. Sketchbooks Travel Well
Sketchbooks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so its easy to find the one for you that will fit into the bag or pocket of your choice. Throw in a pen, pencil or both and you are ready to capture something that grabs your attention , wherever you may be.
It also means that you are able to use those little pockets of time we all seem to waste doomscrolling on our phones.
When you are sitting in waiting rooms, or in the car, or at the coffee shop, you can bring your sketchbook along and use that time for the pleasurable diversion of a little sketching.
Once you get used to working in your sketchbook when you are out and about, you can suddenly find yourself feeling quite pleased when you have to do a bit of extra waiting somewhere.
How’s that for lemonade out of lemons?
3. Sketchbooks Build Foundational Skills
Drawing is a foundational skill for all sorts of art practices.
I nearly opened with this reason but it makes it sound like school, or chores and it really doesn't have to be.
A sketchbook is a playground. But just because you are playing doesn’t mean that you are not developing very useful skills that will serve you well when you do get back to your brushes.
Sketchbooks let you capture ideas, and test them out. You can experiment with composition and practice little value studies.
The better you get at drawing, the easier painting becomes.
Please don’t think you have to be able to draw if you want to paint, just know that learning to draw is one of the most freeing things you can do for yourself and your painting aspirations.
4. Sketching can be a Mindfulness Meditation
Any time you spend observing a subject and drawing it you are not only making yourself a better painter, but probably also a happier person for the few moments of mindfulness and the joy of self expression.
Observational drawing is mindfulness meditation.
No yoga cushion or incense required.
The easiest way to escape from the everyday for a while and experience the relaxation of flow.
Meditation is hard - drawing is not.
Ok that one is perhaps a matter of personal opinion, but I have to say that I find it much easier to sit down and doodle a little than it is to sit down and ‘clear your mind’.
There is also something a bit special about working with our hands. It’s something we did a lot more in the old days. I mean the really old days, before technology and what not.
We used to have to fashion our own cooking utensils and weave fabric for our clothes and rub sticks together for heat and such. Being creative was an essential, necessary part of existing. We were born to use our hands.
There may have been years of evolution since then, but there is still something very right and settling about working with your own two hands.
And making things. Even doodly sketchbook pages count.
I think these things soothe the soul. If you’re craftily inclined you already know exactly what I mean, don’t you?
5.Sketchbooks for Healthy Brains
When we draw, we use our brains, building new connections and pathways.
Drawing is associated with improvements in cognitive functioning such as
memory,
intuition,
the ability to focus and
strategic thinking.
All this when we are just having a bit of fun playing in our sketchbooks!
There is also a measurable positive effect on our brain chemistry.
Drawing in your sketchbook makes your brain release endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine (these are the things that make you feel good) and can even make your brain stem thicker.
Doctors should prescribe sketchbooks, no??
6. Sketchbooks Require Less Decisions
Did you know that making decisions is one of the most taxing things we ask of ourselves?
I think this is often a reason why we don’t get around to painting even when we like the idea of it. There are a lot of decisions to be made when you get the idea that you would like to paint. What size of substrate, what subject, what materials to use and so on.
Now, I’m not saying that a sketchbook eliminates these decisions but I think it does reduce them and make them feel a bit less important.
A sketchbook will often limit your choice of materials by virtue of its paper, and its size was already decided on purchase. If you chose a sketchbook that has drawing paper in it rather than watercolour paper (like this one), you will know that pencils and pens are probably your best bet.
And if you bought a sketchbook with marker paper then it will naturally lead you to get those markers out without having to give it much thought.
Also many of us choose a theme for our sketchbooks so you may also already have an idea of what subject to draw.
7. Sketchbooks take the Pressure Off
If you look up the definition of sketch it says something about preparatory work and practise. So already the pressure of making a ‘proper painting’ is gone. Your permission to make something less than spectacular is actually baked into the name ‘sketchbook’.
Your sketchbook is supposed to be messy. Otherwise it would have been called a masterpiece book.
Don’t let those fancy schmancy sketchbook flip through’s on Youtube and Instagram fool you. Remember everyone who chooses to show your their sketchbook has also been able to choose what they show and what they don’t.
Their sketchbooks, while always interesting (who doesn’t like a sticky beak into someone’s artwork?) are really nothing to do with you. At best they can be inspiring and joyful to look at. But they are not a yardstick or an instruction manual.
There is no particular way a sketchbook is ‘supposed to be’. That’s the beauty of it - its all up to you, and you can keep it as private as you like.
You get to set the tone of your sketchbook and I suggest setting it to PLAY.
And just look how many lovely pages there are in your sketchbook. If you make something you don’t love, you just turn the page and start again.
You can’t help but be inspired to grab a sketchbook, now, surely? The next question I usually get asked is which sketchbook to choose.
Honestly it doesn’t matter.
And you will probably end up with more than one… just saying.
Choosing a Sketchbook for You
My advice is to choose a sketchbook that is not overly expensive so that you don’t feel worried about using it. I suggest heading to the nearest office supply store and finding something cheap and cheerful.
But if you are itching to do some internet shopping right now and are looking for suggestions, here are two of my favourites: the first is best for dry media, and the second will take a bit of watercolour paint.
Royal Talens Art Creation Sketchbook - reasonable price, available in lots of pretty cover colours (smooth cream paper good for dry media, not so good for watercolour)
Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook - (cream cold pressed texture paper, okay for watercolour)
PS Shopping is fun, but please don’t just stop there - remember to get out that sketchbook and use it! 😉
Are you on your own painting journey?
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