Jo Blogs Guide To Keeping A Sketchbook
A sketchbook has many uses. Mine is a personal diary and a handy bit of paper to doodle on when I’m bored or want to annoy or entertain a family member. Hardly blog material, eh? I know! Read on.
Sometimes or often, day to day doings are too dull to record. Everyone who keeps a diary finds this, I imagine. My friend once visited The Grand Canyon and all her diary entry had to report was what she’d had to eat in the Grand Canyon Cafe. Here, I bore myself:
1. Daily record.
The daily records are my favourite, they offer glimmers in your personal history which add colour but wouldn’t have seemed significant enough to record at the time. For instance, the fact that I had a teasmade in my late twenties.
In my opinion, a sketchbook is ideally carried around at all times. Perhaps scenic views and portrait opportunities are few and far between so instead, sketchbooks can be used for records, lists and workings out.
2. Useful lists.
The next page was drawing practice. I record my dreams as something to draw when I’m desperate. Dreams are dull even to the dreamer, ten years on. But I like these sketches. The first is that my teasmade exploded (it actually did eventually, I woke up to a dry tea bag and condensation all up the wall):
3. Drawing practice.
And a dream page I actually like because I’ve never read Jane Austen and this reveals what I imagined Austen to be and how stupid and puerile I am. And I do love dreams with Titles and call backs.
4. Dream record.
This is a pencil sketch of my husband watching the tele* with notes regarding my new year resolution to LEARN MORE ABOUT HISTORY AND THE WORLD. LEARN MORE EVERYDAY. I’m a bit embarrassed at these notes but sod it. (*=I often draw people watching the tele because they sit nice and still. It is almost the back of his head though).
5. Sketching.
Here are some plans for overhauling my wardrobe and dovetailing my coat collection by knitting coordinating hats. You may find these extremely boring but I am entertained by them as they are part of my unending quest to understand style and what on earth we’re meant to be doing when fashion stinks to high heaven.
6. Personal development.
Next – drawing badly and learning from it.
7. Getting better at sketching.
And finally, annoying and entertaining family members.
8. Personal comic strip.
Comments on "Jo Blogs Guide To Keeping A Sketchbook"
The pencil sketch of your husband is really quite good!!!!
great stuff as always. here’s worse than losing your passport: i found an old passport that was expired and freaked out since i’m headed for Tokyo soon. So I applied for a new one only to be told i already renewed my passport in 2011.. they of course, wouldn’t give me a refund and instead issued me yet another passport. wasted $125. what kind of guitar do you play? do you write songs? you do, don’t you? anyone who doodles like you do must write songs as well. Chris Wilson of the Flamin Grooives is here and says he’s a big fan of IDEAL. (he lives in London).
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Thank you for your message Donald. Good passport woes. So: I have a Hofner Senator 1E Thin Brunette, it was £130 at a car boot sale in 1993. I just got rid of my bass, it was like a Woolworths toy. I used to play bass in a band but I was dire. I told the band who asked me to join that I couldn’t play but they didn’t seem to mind. My first gig was supporting Sebadoh. I was so bad I only played for about 2 songs but it was VERY EXCITING! I loved Lou Barlow!! My electric guitar was trashed by one of my brothers and I can’t even remember what make it was. Yes I write songs but not in a good way. When I was little I wrote over 60 folk songs with no life experience to write about so I made it up. I sing songs everyday that I make up as I go along and they are really annoying. They often end with ‘tonight’ sung overly long. That’s so nice about Ideal, thank you for saying that, I’ll pass it on to Graham Duff