If you are a visual artist you probably keep a sketchbook. I've been keeping a sketchbook since I was about 14 years old and I still have almost all the sketchbooks I filled in high school and college as well as many others I've kept through the years.
Like most artists I use my sketchbook to take visual notes, write pertinent information in the borders and to make observations or record ideas. The top page is from the workshop I attended last weekend and has a few notes on the side.
The rest of these are from a trip I took to Amsterdam two years ago. This was a small sketchbook, about 3.5 x 5" moleskine, perfect for fast ink sketches.
Sometimes I draw just for the fun of it and to practice keeping my eye and hand together. Drawing this shop window was a lot of fun even if the drawing itself leaves much to be desired.
Amsterdam is full of visual delights and I took a lot of photos as well. My sketchbook, however, takes me back in a way no photo can. When I look through these pages I can feel the spring air, hear the tour boats passing on the canal under the bridge I'm standing on and see the bright colors and bustle that fill the city.
Over the years my sketchbooks tell a truer story than my journals and these days I don't even bother to keep a journal. I do, however, carry a sketchbook in my car and in my pocketbook everywhere I go.
Do you keep a sketchbook?
