Hello friends! What have you all been up to the past...three (four?) years?? I'll save the what I've been doing with my life post for another day and get right down to basics.
This journal.
Around last Christmas, I found myself in need of a new creative outlet. I had spent the previous 3.5 years working on my master's degree (and traveling the world!), which didn't leave much time for creative pursuits. (I haven't sewn a single piece of clothing in YEARS, outside of a t-shirt refashion this summer!)
But in December, I graduated, and suddenly there it was. FREE TIME. I don't like to be idle. I like to learn and think and practice. I'm weird that way, and it's why I've always been such a good student. Rather than jump back into sewing, I wanted to learn something new. This all coincided with something else, a recent interest in pursuing more traditional art, inspired by a friend's participation in the month-long drawing challenge "Inktober" that takes place every October.
I haven't drawn in YEARS. Well--I doodle. I'm a doodler. So if we count doodles, I've drawn since I could hold a pencil. But I had never considered my doodles "real drawing" or "real art" before, and for some reason I had this silly notion that I was too "old" to draw or learn something that I should have pursued as a young person "if I was ever going to be good".
NEWSFLASH: Everyone can do art. It's never too late to learn something new, and that includes drawing and painting. The pursuit of making art is not about being "good". It's about making something and enjoying the process. That's what you used to do as a child, with crayons and pencils and paint and a fresh sheet of paper, and somehow that simple enjoyment became eclipsed by the need to be "good".
I didn't do Inktober last year. I was still struggling with the "I'm not good enough" mindset and I was smack in the middle of writing and editing my thesis. But it niggled there, in the back of my mind, the memories of drawing and painting, an after school art lesson or two from my art teacher (when my parents probably didn't really need to spend the money).
I bought a sketchbook and some pencils. Then I bought a few more. Then I bought a different sketchbook because I realized I didn't really love the first one. I started watching YouTube tutorials on drawing and sketching and fell in love with one adorable artist named Fran Meneses (frannerd on YouTube) who used a lot of Copic markers and watercolors. I had never learned watercolor; in school we painted with acrylic and oil. Watercolors were those long trays of ovals with a skinny plastic brush and not a lot of payoff. But what Fran was using was different and I was intrigued. I switched my YouTube viewing from sketching and drawing to watercolor painting.
My friends, I was hooked.
Since December, I've amassed a nice collection of watercolors and sketchbooks (still searching for the holy grail), signed up for Skillshare, bought half a dozen books, and watched a million tutorials.
I totally suck. It's the most fun I've had in years.
Which brings me to this very brief and non-tutorial-y DIY: That beautiful sketchbook up there.
Over the past several months I've discovered a few things about my watercolor-loving self: I prefer transparent watercolors (Schminke might be my favorite) and hot press paper. The Schminke I've got covered (after saving up forever) but the hot press paper CAN. NOT. BE. FOUND. in a journal form. It's become really important to always have a sketchbook or journal with me, and carrying around full size paper pads or blocks isn't practical.
So I made my own. I have this Cinch binding machine, from a Hobby Lobby gift card and 50% off coupon two years ago:
It's on the pricy side (about $79 on Amazon), but if you love making papercrafts and photo journals or the like, it might be worth watching for a sale. It was REALLY easy to use.
I used this pad of Arches hot press paper in 9x12 sheets:
There are 12 sheets in a pad (for about $10 on Dick Blick's website); I cut each sheet in half for a 6x9 finished book size. I kept the paper pad's back cover too, which is a nice piece of firm cardboard, and cut it in half to make the journal covers.
I used the Anna Griffin Garden Party scrapbook paper pad in 12x12 size (also purchased at Hobby Lobby for 50% off) to cover the cardboard pieces:
Here's the inside of the covers, with a coordinating print:
Binding the book was a cinch (ba dum tissss). No but really, it was easy. The Cinch machine punches the holes (even through that thick, scrapbook covered cardboard cover!!) and has a little hole-holding doo-hickey that ensures all of your holes are aligned. (If you want a tutorial on using the Cinch, let me know and I'll do one!) The side of the machine has hooks to making placing all the pages and covers on the O-wire simple, and the back of the machine has a "cincher" that squeezes the O-wires closed.
Voila. finished sketchbook.
It's still empty, but it's only 48 hours old. I'll confess I'm still getting past the "not good enough" mentality and it can be a struggle to put pen or brush to paper sometimes, especially GOOD paper.
On the other hand, what's a sketchbook without art. That pad of Arches has sat in my craft drawer for going on 8 months, untouched, because of fear of failure. Here's the thing though: this is mine. No one but me ever has to see it. It was made for me, by me, and I'm the only one who ever has to peek inside.
I may never show you my finished pages. But I will finish them.
And that's the point.
I think I'm finally a *little* bit into the swing of things...
