Sketchbook Connections

February subscriber post

As February starts I feel a gentle awakening as the days get noticeably longer. Today is Imbolc, a key date in the Pagan Wheel that marks the beginning of spring. Combined with last week’s new moon and the start of the lunar new year I begin to get the inklings of new beginnings and rumbling creative projects.

Here, as The Nurtured Artist, I offer my experience of being a working artist, with over twenty-five years of working in the creative arts, as a designer and as an artist. In January I had a clear out of old sketchbooks and diaries and realised that way back, as a burgeoning art student, I would ponder how to stay in creative flow, how to get through the blockages that stopped me making a mark on paper.

Now I have a set of processes that help me to slow, find inspiration, notice, gather, collect, draw, make, and write my art into existence! Yesterday I dropped my art off for a solo show at Ferrers Gallery and felt a huge surge of pride that I had been able to channel these images into being!

I often get asked how I sustain my creative practice and sketchbooks and notebooks is the answer - combined with looking after my inner artist. From this month as part of my paid posts here on Substack, I will be interviewing another artist about how they use sketchbooks in their artistic process. It has been a real treat to talk to mixed-media artist Jenny Stevenson about her sketchbook and design development. There are so many rich nuggets to inspire your sketchbook practice, I hope you will make a cup of tea and listen to the interview.

Next months subscriber post shares a taster lesson from me on capturing spring in your sketchbook and then in April I open the doors to my studio and share what I am working on and what is inspiring me. A subscription to my posts really helps me to share my passions and be able to continue to share ideas, inspiration and community.

Here’s my interview with Jenny (we happen to have a lot in common!)