Journals, sketchbooks ...

The Black Book, constant companion, ready for ... whatever 

Seeing and reading about other people's marvellous sketchbooks and daily journalling (for instance here) makes me feel envious - and guilty (or something...) for not doing so myself.

First of all, is that strange emotion really guilt? Is there a "must" or even "you SHOULD do this" about it?

--long pause for thought--

No, there's no SHOULD. "Could", yes; and you or I "want" to, because it obviously works well as a method of generating ideas and recording thoughts, inspirations, whatever... And it's a lovely thing, to have all that in a book, to refer back to.

So, is it all about envy? Perhaps. That they CAN. That I fear this "easy beauty" is beyond me.

Or is it laziness, or disorganisation? To do this often; to make time; to give up something else so that there is time ...

--another long pause --

Basically, it's not my priority. Instead of a Daily Practice, I function via a combination of Going With The Flow, and Working To A Deadline. That keeps things ticking over nicely.

The pen marks the spot

And I always carry my black notebook/sketchbook, and camera. The notebook is for drawing in, writing in (preferably when indulging alone in a coffee shop), and sometimes as a means of using "wasted" time (on the train). The camera is for capturing the moment, and I use it as another kind of notebook.

Cogitations in a coffee shop, and some doodling, er, pattern-making

There's something else I do so habitually that I've ceased to notice, and that thing is - spending hours on the computer, writing for this blog. It's a way of organising what's going on, what's already happened, what might or might not happen next  - a journal, in effect. The blog functions as a (selective) diary, an aide-memoire for myself, a link to the outside world, and as a research tool. It's a place where I can document what I experience as an artist ... and as a curious person.

Just as anyone might want to make a "pretty" sketchbook rather than a big mess, I take care on the blog to fix up photos when possible, write grammatically, credit the "borrowed" photos via links that might drive traffic to other sites of interest -- and, mostly, to be brief. And have lots of pictures. And to avoid "i-words" - including the first person pronoun (mostly). You can't please all of the people all of the time, but with a little luck, it's interesting to some of the people some of the time.

The upshot of this bit of mulling is a resolution to give up the "guilt" about not having a beautiful sketchbook, and, for the moment at least (everything changes, yes??)  considering the blog to be one of my art activities - one way of "being in the world". (That will allay the "guilt" of spending too much time on the computer, rather than in the studio!)

It's definitely life-enhancing to see and read what the bloggers who I regularly visit are sharing ... especially their sketchbooks. I'm delighted to be able to be part of that - the blogosphere, this international community, is (imho) one of the best things to come out of the digital revolution.

More pattern-making, some using the non-dominant hand

And speaking of digital revolution... if only I could get feeling comfortable with my [brandname omitted] tablet device... A topic for another time (or maybe not!).