Page from my Travel Sketchbook

Hey guys,

Since I finally went to see my family in Georgia a week before my summer ends, I had to take along a light-weight portable sketchbook. This 7 x 10  Catchet Travel Sketcbook with mixed-media grade paper, a magnet-close and free round paintbrush was a perfect choice. I have mostly been doing quick watercolor and line illustrations of scenes around the house.

Basement view of the garden at the side of the house

Kitchen window view of the neighbor's

I used to have an aversion to spiral bound books but they have begun to grow on me because they are so versatile: pages are easily removed, easily turned and secured. I only disliked that sometimes the ring holding pages together would become defective and sometimes pages would escape and that would be quite irritating while I'm working but this usually happened only after many uses.

With hardbound books, there is a chance the spine will buckle under the weight of mixed media (although pages are carefully removed to factor in these concerns). Here, I have only been using watercolors so far but I also plan to do collages and I'm happy to know it will withstand heavy media as well.

Pages from Two Organizational Notebooks

Hey there!

As I've said on this page, I have more than 100 notebooks and so I have to have some way of keeping track of them all and making sure that they are utilized in the most meaningful way possible. I suppose this is my way of making some sense and order out of my incurable compulsion to buy them. I wouldn't say that I am uber organized, but I do love lists, charts, tables, and the like. Maybe I am a little organized.

I used to just have a long list scribbled somewhere of the type of notebook it was, what I intended to use it for, and the dates they were started and completed, but I needed to also separate them into five sections - Sketchbooks, Art Journals, Watercolor, Writing and Miscellaneous, and so when I found this great 8 x 8 spiral travel book at Michaels, already with tabs, I was super excited.

I attached this mini-chalkboard and wrote the title in Liquid Paper

This chart is everything!

This was such a wonderful way for me to see just how many art journals, writing notebooks and sketchbooks I have accumulated, and appreciate them all in their uniqueness.

Another book that helps me stay organized is this fat little MARKINGS book, in which I supplied my own tabs and used a Rub-on Applique with a great message - Live Out Loud - on the cover.

I kept this cover simple and added my own tabs

I use this as an idea book as the next step after creating my "Types of Journals" Inspiration box, featured in the video below as #4:

So, once I got these ideas for what type of journal I wanted to create, I found I needed somewhere to flesh out the content.

For instance, now I will have all those great ideas for my foodie journal in one place. I haven't decided on which notebook I will use for that task, but I will be sure to make that notation here as well as in my notebook log!

Is it strange that I am this excited about organizing my notebooks and constantly generating ideas for my journals? Perhaps, but normal is boring, I say! ;)

Take care.

-W.