The Art of a Sketchbook

The Big Cover-up

One thing I learned years ago is that if you are experimenting with different mediums in a sketchbook a cheap sketchbook at that, you will more than likely have some bleed through on the back of the page.  Then in order to use that soiled page you might need to cover it up with something.

 Cover-up with Brown Paper,  Pen, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

The above page was a contour drawing of some potted flowers done with a ball point pen, but, as you can see there is some brown paper in the spine area ... there was a big splotch of bleed through there so I covered it up with a strip of brown paper.

Cover-up with Photo,  Watercolor, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

This was a fun way to cover up a huge big splotch ... I printed off a photo and glued it in my sketchbook then used watercolor to extend the photo.

  Cover-up with Plain Paper, Pencil, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

There was some ugly mess at the bottom of this page and I cut a blank piece of paper and glued it down.

  Drawing of Paper Whites on scratch paper, pen & watercolor, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

This wasn't a cover up really, but, it was a small sketch I had done on the back of a something I had printed and I wanted to keep it so I just glued it in the sketchbook.

 Cover-up printed out e-mail, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

One of my very favorite cover-ups is to print out some of the nice e-mails I receive about my work.  When I might not be feeling very good about some project I'm working on it helps to read some genuinely nice words about my work.

Until next time, keep on sketching.