Since Sydney went into lockdown at the end of June, I’ve significantly ramped up my sketching. And it’s not just because of my two lockdown projects – working my way through my teacup collection and also going through Palladio’s villas in order.

I’ve been making a conscious effort to document my day as well, finding something different each day in addition to sometimes sketching my morning coffee. I’m also doing a lot of sketching as part of the current Edges Group Run-through – some of these go into a dedicated SketchingNow book and others happen inside my everyday book.

I’ve just completed Sketchbook 145 (another 8×10 Stillman and Birn softcover Alpha) in just 2.5 weeks. Last month I was surprised that I filled one of these books in 3.5 weeks – so this is definitely a record! Of course, I’m talking about my own normal pace of sketching, not yours! It’s very important not to compare your own amount of sketching with other people’s output.

As I live alone (and I’m starting to really miss seeing my family and friends face to face) putting more effort into my sketchbook is a great way to achieve something each day. In a way my sketchbook becomes my companion. And there is something special that happens when I do a lot of sketching on a regular basis (this is exactly what happens when I’m travelling).  New ideas start to emerge in addition to the freedom and ease which develops.

I’m also enjoying experimenting with my page layouts… which is perfect timing as Sketchbook Design is now officially open for enrollment! And I’m hosting a Group Run-through starting Wednesday 4 August which will include 6 livestreams. So stay tuned for more design stuff coming up.

Anyway, to get back to my everyday pages…

This article contains a collection of my ‘other’ pages ie. ones not part of the Palladio project or a dedicated teacup page. You’ll see the occasional teacup and quite a few morning coffee sketches (which I’m still doing some days).  On these pages you’ll also find:

• One JimmyB building sketched from a photo
• Quite a few pages of work that were done for my Edges Group Run-through including some watercolour pencil sketches and a spread containing a few Palladio sketches which are not part of the Villa Project.
• A local church sketched with a waterbrush
• My new favourite local building 🙂
• More sketches related to my current interest in local native plants. BTW thanks to the people who recommended the Picture This app for plant identification. It’s very cool but sadly not very useful for the native species I’m interested in (it hasn’t made a correct identification to date!) But hey, I think it’s more fun (and educational) to work it out myself anyway!
• Some tea purchases
• A fancy truffle breakfast and a bunch of flowers related to the same event. Oh, some of the new tea in my collection is related to this event too.
• A zoom catchup with my friend in Brussels
• And more!

Please note: This book had some significant water damage after I knocked over a full bottle of water on top of it! The blue ink which I use for notes (Lamy Turquoise) is water-soluble so the water made quite a bit of mess on some pages. Thankfully I had already scanned the pages that were most affected.

Let me know if you have any questions about these pages in the comment section below. (If you are reading this via email, please click on the link below and add a comment on my blog – thanks!)