Sketchbook pages

I've taken out my sketchbook again I've been busy filling the pages. Sometimes I feel more like painting with acrylics, in my art journal or on canvas, other times it's ink and watercolour sketches or drawings. But I want to make using my sketchbook a regular practice. It's something I've neglected too often but it's such good practice. And I do love watercolours, and one of my goals for this year is to master this medium. Or at least get a bit more comfortable and skilled working with it.

I treated myself to a new watercolour box and bruhes. And of course I had to make a colour chart. I like Schmincke paints. I also have a few Daniel Smith paints, but since I haven't used them often enough, I find that they do tend to get quite hard after a while. Schmincke are a German brand, and widely available here in Switzerland and also affordable. I'm now working on "perfecting" my palette. I also found a Winsor & Newton box that I bought in London a few years ago. One of those £34.95 instead of £127 speciall offers that one just can't resist.

I'm reading Margery Allingham's Campion books at the moment, I have a whole pile of them and I'm working my way through it. I've never seen the tv series, but Lugg does quite look like his description in the book. The page isn't quite finished yet, and I can't decide whether to add colour or not. But I think I'll just leave it an ink drawing.

I've started taking my sketchbook with me when I go out, and I'm trying to squeeze in half an hour of drawing time every morning before work. It's a peaceful and meditative way to start the day. I also try and draw in my lunchbreak, and next week, I want to start taking my watercolours with me too, rather than just add colour in the evening. And of course I try to draw at home too. Drawing every day

It's taken me well over a year to fill the sketchbook above and I couldn't wait for it to start a new one. Funny, now that I actually have finished it, I almost miss it. The sketchbook was a Stillman & Birn Beta, landscape format and the one I started is a Seawhite. Below are the first two pages. The new Sketchbook course has just started, and as you can see, I've been inspired by the teachers of the classes for these two.

I really want to love this sketchbook. Because Seawhite sketchbooks are available at one of the art shops in town, and it would just be so much easier and cheaper to get them there instead of having to order them from England. What I noticed, though, is that the paper seems to be slightly thinner and the shadow of the ink drawing on the back of the page is very visible. Also, I noticed that erasing pencil lines does not work very well. They remain visible. Both these things are a bit annoying. On the other hand, I added some colour to the page above last night, and the paper seems to take the paint quite well. So that's a plus. And coloured pencil works well too. I'm determined to finish this sketchbook before moving on to the next one, trying out different mediums. One drawing every day. The more I sketch, the quicker I finish the sketchbook.