During COVID I became obsessed with the idea that I needed to “finish” my sketchbooks. I thought having blank pages filled meant I should hurry toward the next book.
I don’t believe that anymore.
Now I feel that it takes as long as it takes. How can I rush my creative mind? How can I know how long it will take to return to a page and know exactly what it needs?
About This Drawing
It began with an ink sketch, followed by watercolor, then I used gouache to add the final details. I could’ve continued to work on it, but I had to force myself to stop. Now that it is scanned, I can keep tweaking it without fear of wrecking it.
I have three sketchbooks now that are nearly complete. This mixed media painting is from one of these sketchbooks and I am pleased with how it turned out.
Unfinished Sketchbooks Piled High
It is exciting to share these sketchbooks that have taken many years to fill. And there is excitement in starting the next sketchbook. Right now I have SIX active sketchbooks. Even still I manage to find more sketchbooks to add to the collection.
New Sketchbooks are Waiting On Me
I have temporarily stopped collecting new sketchbooks. That still leaves me with a bin of empty sketchbooks waiting for me to get to them.
Having several sketchbooks going at once has a purpose. It is convenient when you need a small one for drawing in tight spaces like the subway, or airplane, a different one for drawing at home and a one that lives in the car. The benefit is that often there are more than one reaching fullness at the same time.
Plan B Options:
Getting pages to elevate to likeable is a process that may involve:
- Collaging over parts I don’t like
- Cover only the offensive part of the page with a sticky note and make a new drawing on top.
- Make dutch doors or floating pages
- Black ink
- White gesso
Tommy Kane once said, “Keep massaging the page” and it will become better.
And some pages can just stay unlovely. Every page in the sketchbook doesn’t have to be likeable. There is a teaching moment in the ugly pages. They can remind me that too many colors make mud. Or that I don’t prefer certain shades of yellow.
And if I let them stay in their ugly state, I can preserve the lesson to remind me.
A Sketchbook Is More Than a Collection of Finished Pages
I used to measure a completed sketchbook by whether every page was filled and every drawing was something I loved. Now I see it differently.
A full sketchbook is not a perfect sketchbook. The pages I struggle with, the color combinations that didn’t work, and the drawings that never became what I imagined are all part of the story. They record the lessons, experiments, and growth that happened along the way.
The goal is not to rush through a sketchbook just to begin the next one. The joy is in the process — returning to a page when it is ready, adding what it needs, or sometimes simply turning the page and moving forward.
Maybe our creative work is a little like us. We are not finished, but we are still being shaped. The unfinished parts are not wasted. They are part of the journey.
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9
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