I wrote here about one of the Sketchbook Revival 2026 lessons that grabbed my attention – visual prompts with Jane Davies. I quickly filled 3 sketchbooks with prompts… just two pieces of collage per page to respond to. I’ve been working through the first sketchbook over the last couple of weeks, and completed it today.
I love this exercise because it builds muscle memory, training my hand to easily make the shapes that are uniquely mine as an artist. It stretches me as an artist, thinking how to respond to the start in a way that’s true to me. Looking through the completed sketchbook is a tour through my visual language, a reminder of the colors, shapes and lines that call to me in my work.
In March I did Marabeth Quin’s online course Mixed Media Collage & the Intuitive Landscape. In the course you make 16 small and 4 slightly larger abstract landscapes. I repeated the exercise almost straight away.
Yesterday I started a set of 12 larger ones, and today started 12 smaller ones. When they’re complete they’ll go into my sketchbook, joining the earlier sets, along with notes about each one.
Why create so many when they’re just going straight into my sketchbook? I loved the course, and want the learnings to become embedded in my art practice. But I want to create my work, using what I learnt, not create a simile of Marabath’s work.
The best way to achieve that is through ongoing practice. I follow Niamh Baly, and she often says “practice makes progress” so that’s what I’m aiming for … progress.
This isn’t complete yet, but I like where it’s headed.My desk covered in pieces I’m working on in series.
I’ve followed Jane Davies for years so was thrilled to see a class for Sketchbook Revival. I watched the video and was instantly excited. Sometimes a process just clicks.
In the video Jane made 8 collages to work back into. I sat down and filled 3 sketchbooks, or 60 layouts, with the two-piece collages to work back in to.
I’ve already worked back into two of them. On one of them I squeezed a small paint bottle and it exploded (yep, quick change of sweatshirt). I love the mark it made … if I could do it again, I would!
Helen Wells, on YouTube, talked in a recent post about the fallow period between projects where she tries out disparate ideas and gathers information. For her it’s a generative stage; divergent thinking enables her to find connections & interests. Then she moves to convergent action and thinking – focusing in.
I recognise the divergent and convergent stages in my own practice but, for me, there’s another stage. Most, probably all, of my family is neurodivergent. While I don’t actively think of myself as neurodivergent, there’s certainly some pointers! One of those is a strong need to control my environment, particularly when I’m under pressure. There’s a lot happening at the moment, both in the wider world and in my own realm … not least that we take over the grazing block in less than a month.
That pressure manifests in my art practice. I’ve been making small abstract landscapes using collage and mixed media, and love the process. I’ve got 5 days at home to do my own thing over Easter. Am I creating new works? No … instead, I feel compelled to finish anything that’s lying around, from paintings to art journals. Sometimes, while I wait for multiple pages to dry, I clean out a draw or cupboard.
It feels good to complete things and start with a clean state. In one sense, this is solely completion, but in another way it IS an act of creation, because I’m creating the mentally and physical space for new works to emerge.
Small handmade journals in the process of completion Detail from a long handmade concertina sketchbookThis concertina sketchbook is about 5 feet long … 2 pages aren’t shown.
I follow Helen Wells on YouTube. She posted recently about Sketchbook Revival 2026, a free course in April to refresh your sketchbook practice. Heck yes! I love working in my sketchbooks so this was a no brainer.
There’s a pre course class where you make a book to use for the course if you want … of course you can use what you already have, or buy one. I can do a simple sewn signature journal, but not much else. This looked achievable so I have it a go.
I’ll use the Australian Piano Hinge style again. Is mine perfect? Of course not, it’s my first attempt, and anyway nothing’s ever perfect. The paper I used for one element is a bit heavy, so it cracked on the fold. My cutting is slightly off, so some pages are a little bit shorter. But you know what? It doesn’t matter … I love it!
Cath Sheard Art 