I worked on a fun collab with
. It was a great way to do something a bit different and reconnect with a friend.
BWP- I was talking with my old pal Jennifer Orkin Lewis a while back. I worked with Jennifer on several books back in my days at Chronicle Books and have been a longtime fan of her artwork, and more recently I’ve been enjoying her Substack.
JOL-I hadn’t been in touch with Bridget for a few years, and I was thrilled when she reached out to me. As my editor at Chronicle Books, she expertly guided me through the creation of my book All Hail the Queen. I had never done anything like it, and she walked me through the process. That’s a whole story in itself, for another day. She is now a creative consultant and freelance editor. Bridget’s Substack is great; she gives us glimpses into art she is seeing and loving, illustrated essays, and cool stuff to link to.
BWP- We got talking about sketchbooks. Jennifer has a very active and vibrant sketchbook practice. She uses paint and incorporates a ton of color, which of course I’m very into. I love how her sketchbooks look. Myself, I’ve always been a sporadic sketchbook user at best. I love drawing but have struggled to fit a recurring sketchbook practice into my routine.
JOL- I hadn’t seen much of Bridget’s sketchbook work before, but I know I love her simple, straightforward, quirky paintings. I’ve been keeping a sketchbook since 2014. For the first six years, it was a daily 30-minute painting. I’m a bit more sporadic now, but I am still filling up the pages. A year ago, I also started my small “plein air” drawing book. In that one, it’s mostly markers, sometimes Neocolors, pencils, and a bit of paint. It’s still filled with color. Color is what makes me excited.
BWP- For the past year or so I’ve been making the sketchbook thing happen a bit more. I tend to just do black pen drawings (unusual for me, who will generally find a way to cram color into anything), though just lately I’ve been experimenting with watercolor pencils sometimes when some color is needed to differentiate the different objects in a drawing.
JOL- I love the simplicity of Bridget’s sketchbook work. I also enjoy trying different ways to approach each drawing. Filling the negative space with color or a splash of solid color with the line drawing on top.
BWP-Our conversation centered around how many different ways there are to keep a sketchbook and how there’s no one “right” way. Quick and loose and messy or more finished and final. Colorful paintings or simple linework. Frequent or sporadic. It’s all useful and fun and valid. That’s when we hit upon the idea of doing a little sketchbook collaboration. We were talking about how we both loved to draw objects around our houses, and especially from the kitchen. What if we each drew the ‘same” kitchen things in our respective homes, in our own sketchbooks, in our own styles? We came up with a little list: stick of butter, tin of tea, bowl of fruit, and a container of salt.
JOL- When we came up with the idea for the kitchen collab, I immediately decided I wanted to paint the items, not draw them. I recreated my daily painting parameters, put on the timer for 30 minutes, and painted. Looking back at my choice, I would have been happy to draw them in the marker sketchbook as well, but in that one, I’m usually outside, drawing what I randomly come across. There are no rights and wrongs in how to approach a personal project and your sketchbook.
BWP- We went away and made our pictures. When we came back together with the finished pieces, I loved seeing how they look side-by-side.
JOL- They are different, but each is special and beautiful. Don’t be afraid to do what comes naturally to you. It’s all you.
When I started my daily sketchbooks, I hadn’t had a steady art practice in a long time, actually ever. In January 2014, I made a plan to paint every day in a sketchbook. I was so ready to do this. I had no idea what would happen, if anything, but I took the challenge. As I mentioned above, I had parameters. They had to be strict or else I would find myself working on one piece all day.
My rules: I had to do something in here every day. I had to use the timer, set it for 30 minutes, and stop when the time was up. I could use any medium, but I mostly used gouache. If I were sick or super busy, I had to at least make a dot on the page. I found that once I started, I could always manage more. It didn’t matter what I drew; I would be influenced daily by what I saw around me. I had to post the results on Instagram to keep myself accountable.
I did it for a year. And then I continued for the next five years. It was harder to stop than it was to start. I had started feeling like my whole identity was wrapped up in doing this. It got to be too much, and I slowly eased off. My worst fear was that I would stop painting altogether if I didn’t have my “project,” But through it I learned that this is what I am all about.
Barely a day goes by now that I don’t draw or paint something. Sometimes it’s on loose watercolor paper, sometimes a small postcard, or on a birch board, and the sketchbook practice is still going strong. I also have my small marker sketchbooks. It’s been a year and a few months since I started using them. I am beginning the tenth one this week, as I head to Greece to teach. (Which is all about keeping a travel sketchbook)!
So for the 6 years I did the daily practice, I created 2,190 paintings, and it took about 65,700 hours. That’s insane. It was just 30 minutes of my day! I’ve probably much, much, more than doubled that time. I sometimes paint all day, and even then, I was always working on other painting projects. So, WOW. That’s how you build up a practice. A little at a time.
Talk soon,
xxJennifer
 | A guest post by
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Thank you. This was a great post. It is helping me. I love the drawings from both of you.
Love this! I was just looking at my stack of sketch books, today, again - wondering if I should thin them out, again - which I do more often since we recently moved in to a really small space. Each time I go through them though they bring me so much joy. Yes, there is a lot of crap, but there's so much I love. They are journals I don't mind "re-reading", unlike actual journals!