Really excited this morning … I just might have found a solution to my sketchbook crisis earlier in the week and also a general dissatisfaction with my day-to-day Sydney sketches I have had lately.

Today I started an A4 water Moleskine sketchbook – the one that I love using when I am travelling but never use at home as I  find it too heavy to carry around with me all the time. The plan is to use this book whenever I go out to sketch.

Although I have definitely been a “one sketchbook girl” I am going to start having two. My daily sketchbook – a stillman and birn Alpha book of some size – will be where I write my notes, do random stuff, loosen up, experiment, carry with me everywhere (dare I say it- draw more people in it). In the last 12 months, my daily book has become more of a working book and less of a polished sketchbook as it has been for years. I suspect that it will become even more working (rougher), with unfinished pages and looser – and I probably won’t scan many of the pages in it. When I want to work bigger or slower I will turn to the Moleskine.

Today I attended a Sydney Sketch Club event at Cockatoo Island – I haven’t been able to get to many events lately but visiting cockatoo island today was perfect for me today. There was a big group (approx. 50!) but I managed to be very anti-social (for me!) and wander off on my own to sketch. Still said hello to a number of people but I just really wanted to sketch this morning…and managed a good range of Cockatoo elements

Random collection of industrial buildings with texture and rusty materials

Cranes and slipways

My favourite building on Cockatoo Island – the Drawing Office!

Convict buildings in the bright midday sun (it was HOT today!)

And here are the two spreads in my daily book – warmup sketch with my sailor pen (just put lex grey ink in and it is flowing a LOT better!)

and then a map and a few thoughts from the day

In summary, I was very pumped … but here are a few random thoughts:

• the A4 moleskine = travel sketching for me = in the groove, being spontaneous, going for it …all things that I strive for when I am sketching. today I got those travel sketching creative juices flowing. I am more interested in the fun I have sketching that I do the end result. I had FUN today!
•  love having the larger size – as I mentioned the other day, I am really disliking working across the spine in an A5 book
• realised that one of the things I REALLY love about working in a sketchbook is the interaction of two (or more)  sketches across the spread and playing a few compositional games – maybe a reason why I find the smaller book and loose sheets of paper a bit flat -‘just’ a single image on a page. I am trying to start working on loose sheets of paper but I am not going to push it…
• going to still write notes in the A4 but also hope that I will write other stuff in my daily book – like today- added a map page and a few notes

Anyway… it just felt good today to be using the A4 book… (sorry to go on and on about this….)