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| A selection of sketchbooks I am working in at the minute. |
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| A glimpse of whats inside as they can be quite differant from one to another. |
Over the last few weeks I have been enjoying the most amazing burst of creativity. It has been keeping me on my toes designing and making new quilts, one of which I am hoping will be entered into the Great Northern quilt show Harrogate in September. Sadly this journey came to an abrupt stop over the weekend when I fell ill and had to visit A&E with suspected gall stones. I am pleased to say it was not gall stones and whilst I need further investigations it looks like it may have been a bad gastric bug. Thankfully I am feeling lots better but its amazing how being physically ill had a knock on affect to my mental health. I found I could not concentrate and my imagination that beforehand was over flowing with ideas was jumbled, confused and almost lost. It made me more upset than the pain I was in until yesterday, when I decided to pick up a pencil and opened my sketch book. It was slow going at first but 24 hours later and boy I am on a roll again. I know some people think you have to be able to draw to keep a sketch book but that is simply not true. I am encouraging my 7 year old grandson to keep one at the moment and as far as I know he is really enjoying it. Some people keep a diary or a journal maybe even a book of notes or ideas, what ever works for you is whats best. I just love to doodle and this is often done sitting on the couch whilst my husband is watching something on the telly that I am not really into. Sometimes I have an idea but can't quite draw the concept just from my imagination so I go on the internet and do some research. Some may say this is cheating but I asure you it is not as some of the best drawings come from observation and real life. I was introduced to keeping a sketch book in 2006 as part of my City & Guilds and I have never looked back. There are always going to be pages that you love and pages that you hate, as we all strive for perfection. However, I have over the years discovered there is always something to learn from a page that has not worked out quite the way you wanted it to. This is my therapy, my form of medication and I urge anyone who has health issues to give it a go.
