Hi lovely members 👋 Last weekend it was pouring in Manchester, so we ducked into Mackie Mayor, a big old market hall turned food hall. We got a corner table, ordered some nice food and a glass or two of wine, and spent a couple of hours drawing the people around us. 🍷 The best bit? My husband joined in. [ He won't let me show his drawings, though, sadly. Even though they were great ❤️ ] He has no background in drawing, but he has his own sketchbook now, and this is the second time we've gone off to a city together just to draw what we see. We both loved it. - - - - - ✏️ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲-𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 People don't stay still, so you can't fuss over anything. You catch a pair of glasses or the curve of a shoulder, and move on. Nobody expects a finished portrait. My pages are a few little faces and one couple deep in conversation, with "Faces of Mackie Mayor" written underneath, and that page now holds the whole afternoon for me. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘕𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 (𝘚𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘺) 𝘈𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵. - - - - - ☕ 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘆 A café, a library, a train station or a park bench all work. Find a seat with a view, take one pen and a small sketchbook, order something nice and settle in. Let people walk out of your drawings and just start the next one. 💛 Bring a partner or friend along if you like. They don't need to be "arty". Or go on your own and enjoy the quiet company of your sketchbook. - - - - - 💬 Where would you go for your sketching day, and who would you bring along, if anyone? Have you tried this before? Would you like to try it? Tell me in the comments, and share a page if you've tried it. I'd love to see it. 👇

Happy Sunday lovely members ☕ I want to share a video with you today because I think what it says is so important, and I have a feeling it will land for a lot of us here. Has anyone ever asked you, "What's the point of making that if you're not selling it?" Or maybe nobody has said it out loud, but a quiet voice in your own head asks it when you sit back from a page. Or you feel guilty about spending time on your sketchbook? This video is for that voice. ▶️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗼 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝘀 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scGt-BJ97LA 📏 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 She talks about something she calls "the value stick": the habit of holding everything we make up against a measuring stick. Does it make money? Is it useful to someone else? If not, it doesn't count. None of us picked that stick up on purpose. Most of us grew up in a world that measures worth by what we produce, so making something just for ourselves can come with a little pinch of guilt, even while we're enjoying it. 🧶 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 Knitting isn't valuable because it turns into a sweater. The sweater is the bonus. The value was already happening in the hours of making, stitch by stitch. It's the same with a sketchbook page. The page isn't where the value lives. It's evidence that something good already happened in you while you made it. 📓 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 This is my favorite part. Nobody thinks a friend who writes in a diary for half an hour a day is wasting their time, even though no one else ever reads it. We just understand that a diary helps you think. Sketchbook journaling does exactly the same job, only with color, lines and paper scraps instead of sentences. It's a private place to think in images, and over time it becomes a little time capsule of what you're drawn to. The one difference is that we never judge a diary entry as a finished piece of writing. So what if your sketchbook page didn't have to be a finished piece either? Just a rough draft of your day, your colors, your thoughts.

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗵𝗱𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝟴𝟬'𝘀. I'm on my Art Foundation course [see my photo below - check the 80s hair. 😆 ], and every one of us has just been handed a brand new sketchbook. Clean. White. Every page empty. 😱 It was the first time anyone had ever asked me to work in a sketchbook. I had no idea that little book was about to give me one of the biggest mental blocks of my life. Because every week, the tutors looked through them. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗻'𝘁. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀. Within a few weeks, it had turned into a competition. There were the cool kids, of course. Long trench coats. Hair down over one eye. Super goth. You could smell the patchouli before they walked into the room. And their sketchbooks were already full. Page after page of amazing, intimidating drawings. The rest of us would ask, "Can I have a look through yours?" and then quietly go home feeling worse. People flicked through your book too. Sometimes you could tell they weren't impressed with what you'd drawn. And you were not allowed to tear a page out. Complete no-no. You'd be in big trouble. So every wobbly line, every drawing that didn't work, stayed there for everyone to see. 𝗦𝗼 𝗜'𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘇𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲? That real white page fear. Where you're almost frightened to make a single mark, because whatever you put down might not be good enough. 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲. Here's what I didn't understand back then. Some of those cool kids really could draw better than the rest of us at the start. That's true. But over the years I've watched what happens next. The people who start out a little bit better are often overtaken by the people who just keep turning up and putting in the hours. It's not about raw talent. It's about practise. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸. The thing that got me unstuck wasn't drawing at all. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝗻.

Welcome, Founding Member! 🎉 I'm so glad you're here. This is a sketchbook journaling space for grown-ups who lost touch with their creativity somewhere along the way. However you draw, in five minutes or fifty, in a proper sketchbook or a dirt-cheap spiral notepad from the supermarket, it all counts. ❤️ ❤️ 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘: 👉 The Printables Starter Pack & Extras 👉 The Sketchbook Magic 7-Day Challenge - Start here ❤️ 👉 50 Beginner's Prompts easy ways to start sketchbook journaling 👉 You can find everything in the classroom here You're getting in early as a Founding Member, 𝘀𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗼. If you ever want a bit more support, here's what's here for you: ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- 🌻 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗩𝗔𝗨𝗟𝗧 Ever stare at a blank page and freeze? The Vault gives you a growing library of seasonal printables, prompts and ephemera to journal with all year, so you always have somewhere to start. Founding Member pricing right now: $5/month or $30/year, locked in for as long as you're here. 👉 Get instant access here ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ✏️ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 Ever wanted to draw your pet, or something that means the world to you, in the kind of detail that makes people say "𝙉𝙤 𝙒𝘼𝙔 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩!!" ? 😮 ❤️ 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙤𝙣𝙚-𝙩𝙤-𝙤𝙣𝙚. - Two 45-minute Zoom sessions a month, working side by side, building real detailed pencil and colored pencil skills - Send me your drawings in between sessions and I'll tell you exactly what to work on next - Old teacher put you off, or a voice telling you that you can't? That's exactly what I'm here for too. I'm a certified coach as well as an artist, so you get real accountability and confidence-building alongside the skills

🎥 This one just dropped into my YouTube suggestions and I had to share it What Happens When You Stop Trying to Draw Properly? With illustrator Shoo Rayner It's just really lovely. He takes his sketchbook for a walk along the canal and talks about embracing the flaws, and how sketching isn't supposed to be perfect. It's there to help you look at what's around you and maybe jog your memory later. He draws the same swan over and over, puts a dog next to a slice of cake, and draws a coffee cup from two angles at once, and he's completely happy with all of it. He's basically giving you permission for things not to be perfect, and to just enjoy it. 🦢 Well worth 5 minutes of your time. ☕ 💬 Once you've watched it, tell me what stayed with you. Has it changed how you think about your own sketchbook?