Completing a Sketchbook...
Fall painting — getting to the very end of my sketchbook.
Gouache: Acryla Gouache
Paper: Arches 90 lbs Cold Press
In my previous post, I linked to a video where I did a tour of the only sketchbook I have ever completed. That being said, I have only been painting for the last couple of years.
I have, however, completed a few notebooks in my days. As a writer I have faced the blank page but never felt the pressure of completing a notebook, only the pressure of ‘defacing’ the first page. In fact, I often had several going at the same time. When I was close to completing one, my main concern was finding another.
Autumn Colour Gouache
Gouache: Acryla Gouache
Paper: Arches 90 lbs Cold Press
When it comes to sketchbooks, starting a new one has never much been an issue. The problem comes with finishing one. For the past month and a half, I have been less than a dozen pages away from finishing the sketchbook I had hoped to complete by the end of summer. Summer has ended, we are a full month into fall, and I am still a couple of pages away from being done.
In fact, I have been debating about when to consider it done. Should I go back and complete that sketch I started but never started painting? And what about that ONE blank page I had kept blank because I had thought I might cut out the painting on the reverse side? Part of me wants to go back and finish the sketch, add a doodle to the blank one, simply so I can say “I COMPLETED the sketchbook!”
A better look at the materials used.
There is little rationality here. I am pursuing a high, that dopamine release when I have crossed my Ts and dotted mi Is. As I write this entry, I am coming to terms with the fact that I WILL be going back to the sketch and the blank page. The good news is, I did take time this week to make myself another handmade sketchbook. This one with both watercolour and drawing paper in different colours and textures.
What about you: When do you consider having completed a sketchbook? Do you need, like me, to go back and find a way to have used every page that you could before considering it done?