Sketchbook tour - 2 years of growth (part 2)

I hope you’re enjoying seeing the messy underbelly of my creative process. Here we pick up this Fabriano sketchbook again (spanning January 2023 to June 2024) for the second part of the tour.

Barcelona Maps

Some of my favorite drawings in this sketchbook came from our trip to Barcelona. Rather than traditional location sketching (which I find completely overwhelming), I took tons of photographs and drew from them when we returned home.

"I was looking at a lot of Firelei Baez paintings at this time. I think we'd just been to see an exhibition of hers. And she paints a lot on top of maps and like other ephemera... So this is just a crappy tourist map of Barcelona that I've then painted on top of."

This approach of layering my impressions over ephemera from the trip felt more authentic to me than trying to perfectly capture scenes in the moment. The gorgeous shopfronts and architecture of Barcelona were lovely to draw, and I did enjoy ‘collecting shapes’ throughout the trip.

Strengthening My Visual Vocabulary

One of the most valuable aspects of keeping a sketchbook is watching your own artistic voice develop over time. After 15 years of creating art, I have a clear sense of what resonates with me:

"You have to find your own particular language. I've been doing this now for 15 years. And along that time I have discovered what I like and what makes me happy and how I like to render things, but it doesn't stop me from trying a whole bunch of other stuff."

You can see this quite clearly (or at least, I can) in these two renderings of the same scene from a Barcelona restaurant - one in mixed media (watercolour, neocolor crayon, coloured pencils) and another just in paint:

"This one [in paint] I like so much better. This one feels like me. And this one, I don't dislike it. I mean, I think it's a lovely drawing, but it doesn't feel as me as this one does."

I love these moments where I recognise myself on the page - and it always helps with knowing where to go next.

The Glory of Making a Mess

If there's one theme that comes up again and again throughout my sketchbooks, it's the pure joy I find in making messes:

"Making a mess is so joyful and so freeing and makes me so happy and sometimes magic happens when you do that."

Some of my favorite spreads in this sketchbook are the ones where I was able to completely let go and create without judgement or inhibition, and this ‘embracing of chaos’ definitely informs my choice of materials too.

While I've experimented with countless mediums (and will probably continue to do so), I always return to paint:

"I'm always so much happier when I'm painting. I mean, I think it's great to stretch yourself and try and do new things and try different materials and stuff, but you're always going to have a comfort zone where you feel the happiest. And paint, for me, is definitely it."

Specifically, gouache (both acrylic and water-based) is a firm favorite for sketchbook work because it behaves similarly to acrylic:

"I really like gouache because it behaves more like acrylic and acrylic is my happy place when I'm painting. I like the immediacy of it. You know, you can put marks down and they dry quickly and you can build up layers and layers and layers."

Studies for Larger Works

As my practice has evolved, and I’ve had a larger studio space, I've begun tackling larger canvases which presents new challenges and opportunities:

"I found it really helpful to just do studies, compositional elements and things in a way that I wouldn't normally do for my smaller pieces. I'm much more comfortable doing things at a smaller size, but I love, love, love, love the freedom of doing larger pieces and being able to be like much more physically involved."

There's something transformative about creating on a scale that engages your whole body:

"I like to sort of dance and get my whole arm involved in a stroke... They have so much more space on the picture plane to play and make a mess. A beautiful mess, a controlled mess, a guided mess."

Permission to Be Human

Perhaps the most powerful message that emerges from these pages is the permission to be imperfect, inconsistent, and gloriously human:

"I AM a real fucking artist. I spend my time making art. I sell art. I talk about art. This is how I make my livelihood. This is how I exist in the world. My whole house is full to the brim with art that I have made and my friends' houses and the houses of strangers across the globe. And I don't make art every day. I've never made art every day. I have multiple chronic illnesses and it's just not possible. So if you've ever beaten yourself up for not being a draw everyday artist, then fuck it. You don't have to be. You can just be you and that's fine."

My sketchbook contains a really random mix of good stuff, bad stuff, interesting stuff, boring stuff, messes, mistakes, deliciousness, bits I love, bits I'm embarrassed to show anybody, but it's all part and parcel of the creative process.

And isn't that the whole point? A sketchbook shouldn't be a highlights reel or a polished performance, it should be a true reflection of the messy, unpredictable journey of creating art.

Watch the full sketchbook tour below to see all the pages I've described and many more!