Sketchbooks on a Budget

When I first started teaching, I had a pretty tight budget.  My students were supposed to keep a sketchbook, but buying them for everyone ate up a lot of the money I had.  So I asked the students to supply their own, and I bought a case of sketchbooks with my own money that I sold to the students.  This kind of worked, but I wasn't very happy with the solution.

Then one day a truck pulled up to our school loading dock full of office furniture and supplies that a government agency was donating to our school.  There was a lot of copy paper, and the school took the regular sized paper, and asked me if I would like the legal and oversized  (17 1/2" x 11") paper. Why of course I did.

The  legal size paper made a good size book when folded in half. And the larger size made a really generous book. I have always been fond of bookmaking, and it makes a nice way to start the year or the semester. Plus I am a big believer in keeping a sketchbook myself and using it on a daily basis.  I use my own sketchbook to inspire the students and create sketchbook prompts from my own examples.

Once you establish the sketchbook habit with your students, it makes for great substitute lesson plans.  I'll often leave an assortment of materials for them to use such as watercolors, stencils,  and rubber stamps  as well as some prompts which I like to mix up among drawing, doodling and writing.

These are the instructions on how to make the smaller sketchbooks:
Simple Book with a Three Hole Binding

These are for the multi-section book.
Accordion Binding Book with Five Holes

I only do wrapped covers with my eighth grade students.  If you want to paint paper to wrap around your covers, view this slide show:

 Paste Paper

Also here is a video on how to sew a three hole binding:


Here are my Golden Rules for bookmaking with students:

1. Let the paper dictate the size of the book. What I mean is, don't end up cutting hundreds of sheets of paper to make books a particular size or shape. You'll cut a lot less mat board for covers.

2. Establish a relationship with a frame shop so that you have a steady supply of mat board.

3. Use good thread. I recommend 3 ply waxed linen thread from Royal Wood, Ltd.

Have Fun!

Not a student sketchbook, but a giant lead book by Anselm Kiefer at Mass MOCA

Amish on the Beach

This summer we went to our rental beach house in Avon, NC, as usual.  We had neighbors several houses up who appeared to be Amish.  Although, as my son pointed out, we did not see any horse and buggies parked under the houses, so possibly they were Mennonites.   It was fascinating to see people on the beach fully dressed.  It seemed rude to photograph them, although I tried, so I sketched them throughout the week.  These are some of my sketchbook pictures.

Sketchbook Hospital and UVA

Okay here are some more sketchbook pictures.  These are from last year.  Victor had a little hospital stay due to an e-coli infection.  This is my sketchbook note from the hospital.  By the way, someone miss-typed his age, so instead of 18, he was listed as 78.  He was put in the geriatric ward.  You should have seen the expression on the nurse's face when my husband went to complain about his son's treatment (waiting an hour for an IV when he was admitted for dehydration).  A bad experience all around.

After more recuperating he could go off to college.  This is the sketch I made while we waited on the lawn to see if he was okay after a day of classes.

Zendoodles/ Solid Sound

A couple of years ago I read about zendoodles, or zentangles.  It is glorified doodling.  Basically, you draw a shape, divide it into sections, and fill each section with different patterns.  I've done this with my students, and they love it, and they look pretty cool.  The method has done a lot to influence my sketchbook.  I keep a small "travel journal" in my purse.  I like to record places I've been to in it.  But along with traditional sketches and notes, I make a zendoodle, filling spaces with patterns and images of where I have been.  I kind of like them.  To most people they may appear to be just color and line, but to me everything has a meaning.  Traditional zendoodles are black and white, but my favorites use lots of color.
This is one I did at the Solid Sound festival this past June.  It was a rainy weekend, so there were not that many great opportunities to draw for the first day and a half.  Most of it was done on Sunday.  Half is devoted to T-shirts.

This is the one I did from the year before, same festival.

I like the 2010 one better.  But I was sitting in a sunny field drawing as opposed to the first one where it was damp and muddy - not very conducive to sketching.

Drawing more

I had dinner with some art school friends a few weeks ago.  We were talking about how important it is to keep working on art and of course, how easy it is not to work at all.  My friend Maria said she had taken an illustration course and her teacher had stressed the importance of drawing every day. Maria had been trying to do that and showed us some of her work, which of course was beautiful.  We all resolved to try to draw every day.
A week later I was fretting that I hadn't pulled out my sketchbook once and wished I had time to draw.  As I dug around for a pencil, I started thinking about what to draw and thought of doing some more perspective examples.  And then it occurred to me, I draw all of the time, and during the week, pretty much every day.  So what was I worried about?  I draw examples for the kids, I draw with the kids, I make signs and diagrams for them all the time with drawings all over them.  Wasn't that why I wanted to be an art teacher in the first place, so I could keep my hand in?
Another thing I have started doing is keeping a notebook for when I visit my Dad.  I try to ask him about something from his life and write it down.  When he is not cooperating, or when he starts repeating himself, I do line drawings of him or the other residents.  They don't move around much, so they are pretty easy to draw, and all of those lines and wrinkles make interesting drawings.
So I am drawing everyday and sometimes a little bit more, tonight I'm drawing into the ground on my etching plate which is a pretty cool surface to work on.
I rarely photograph my sketchbook, but I have some of my beach drawings.  This one is from Sandbridge, VA a couple years ago.