Monday, June 27, 2011

Came Home to This

I just came home from our family vacation to the Oregon Coast to find THIS in the mail my neighbor picked up for me.
Now there are very few things in this world that can make me feel better about leaving the ocean. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the ocean. How I am landlocked in Idaho is a bit of a mystery, but coming home was a bit easier knowing that my copy of Artist's Journal Workshop was waiting for me. I was a little concerned when I found out that it arrived on the only rainy day they had while we were away and had gotten pretty wet, but when I opened it, it was the only thing in the box that was not wet. Yay! Talk about a miracle. I had been reading the Artist's Journal Workshop BLOG while I waited for the book to be released and I LOVE it. It is not a book about smearing around paint, collaging, and making a big, fun, juicy mess with every art supply I can think of, like my usual art journal. This is more like a sketchbook to me, at least how I keep a sketchbook. Sketches, notes, observations, etc. done in pencils, inks, and watercolors mostly. I love looking at other artists' sketchbooks and learning their processes and Artist's Journal Workshop has already helped me arrive at a few decisions regarding my current sketchbooks. I am always growing into them. Letting go of rules, changing the rules, accepting the rules, mostly learning that my sketchbook is just that, MY sketchbook and it needs to feel like my safe place. Does your sketchbook feel that way to you? How do you make your sketchbook your own? I'd just love to know.