Because a sketchbook is your very own secret laboratory. Or workshop, or garage. It's your office—perhaps the one you prefer to visit. It's a forge, a factory, a shop. You can lose yourself there, time will disappear, the work is "all." Things will happen and you will begin to see the world anew.
Some cautions though: a sketchbook is not about perfecting or producing something. Unless you want one, there's no clapping nor silent audience. And it's definitely not (all) about your so-called artistic skills. It's not about good or bad, right or wrong.
Defer judgment. Discontinue criticism. Suspend doubt. Waive embarrassment. Slow down. Think. Observe. Record. Stop verbalizing. Quiet. Calm. Think. Move the dialogue inside. Or silence it. Because, here's the truth: you must must must destroy the gatekeepers of your imagination.
So, draw. Depict. Experience. Scribble. Write. Paint. Smush. Paste. Cut. Journal. Quote. Recipe. Smudge. Doodle. List. Strikethrough. Ask your questions. Reflect. Swear. Remember. Forget. Free yourself. Experiment. Create. Whatever. Just (verb-intended) art.
Codex: Thunderous applause. Exactly and all the supplies that go with it.
ReplyDelete*claps* I knew you'd get it.
DeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHave fun!
ReplyDeleteAlways. You too!
Delete...a sketchbook can change your life if you can sketch.
ReplyDeleteJust try it, sir. :)
DeleteI am afraid that seeing my own sketching would ruin my life, but I keep a camera close to hand, and I do have words.
ReplyDeleteHa! I would say your camera IS your sketchbook so please continue arting your way, sir.
Deletethat would not come naturally to me. I wish it did. then again perhaps my blog is my sketch. Hmm....
ReplyDeleteYes, that's it!
DeleteI cannot draw worth a lick, but I do like to doodle. Like Margaret above, my blog is kind of like my own sketch pad.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteI should buy Everett a sketchpad. My sister Joan tells me "Just try," myself, but I have yet to.
ReplyDeleteYes and yes!
DeleteI used to believe I could not do art.
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot of time in waiting rooms about 15 years ago and took up zentangle and zentangle inspired art. Then I sort of branched out.
But I don't have a sketch book, I have piles of paper. LOL
I used to believe that too. Insert fist bump here.
DeleteGreat stuff! It's all about self-expression, no matter how or where or when we practise it.
ReplyDeleteBingo.
DeleteI have a whole pile of sketchbooks. Some clean and pristine. Some well used.
ReplyDeleteWe humans experience whims and that's okay too.
DeleteGosh! I haven't drawn or painted in such a long, long time. You're starting to motivate me.
ReplyDeleteI recently stumbled across an old sketchbook and was pleasantly surprised, because I am most definitely not an artist...but some of that stuff wasn't as cringeworthy as I remembered.
ReplyDelete