The Sketchbook Challenge - One Done and Eleven To Go

The Sketchbook Challenge has completed its first month and the second is now underway.  This feels like a good time to pause and contemplate my progress so far and give you a glimpse of how Pilgrim is taking shape.

The point of the challenge is to encourage the habit of keeping a sketchbook and using it for experimentation and practice. One advantage to a long, cold winter is spending plenty of time indoors playing around in a sketchbook.

The Dalai Lama in stitches.

I don't think a single day has gone by since the first of the year that I haven't opened up Pilgrim and added to her in some way. That's kind of big for me since I've never been a faithful journaler. I'm normally semi-sporadic at best.

Now I look forward to the time I spend noodling, doodling, and filling pages with color and text. The process is slower and more deliberate than what I'm used to. In the past, I've used a lot more paint and collage in journals and altered books. Flinging paint and gobs of matte medium is my usual technique. But since it's hard to work messy on a daily basis, I've had to change things up a bit.

Spraying rather than painting on pigment ink is just one way I've experimented with new techniques in Pilgrim. I've also played around with writing with ink and a dip pen, stamping, and stitching.

There are a few aspects to The Sketchbook Challenge where I don't feel I've been very successful. I didn't do much with the January theme of HIGHLY PRIZED. This page is probably the only one done specifically for the theme.

I also haven't posted any photos to The Sketchbook Challenge Flickr pool--although I DID finally set up a Flickr account. So, I missed out on the chance to win fabulous prizes in January.

The theme for February is OPPOSITES and this page is going to be about serenity and chaos. (For the record--I prefer serenity.)

Here you can see the altered pages next to the ones I haven't touched yet. I love the way they ripple and wave and seem so much more alive with color and art added to them.

So...one done and eleven to go. I hope I can keep up and have a completely filled book by the end of 2011. You can join The Sketchbook Challenge at any time--just grab a book and get started. Happy sketching!