After an enjoyable talk the previous day (see report below) Cas Holmes lead a workshop on sketchbooks. She started off by asking the group how many of us regularly kept a sketchbook and unfortunately only a couple of hands went up. We all know we should but for various reasons we don’t – can’t draw and lack of time were some of the excuses but Cas encouraged us to live in the moment and to record it for future use. A sketchbook was a personal record of ideas, colours, interests and was an important tool for developing the individual’s work.
Using a variety of materials we coloured pages of our sketchbook and found papers, created collages, added stitch and free machine images from our chosen theme. One exercise I found very liberating was to sit in a group for five minutes drawing images from the garden. No excuses this time and lots of us were surprised and pleased with the results!
Time went incredibly quickly and at the end of the day we all displayed our work which was so different reflecting that we were all individuals and had taken on board what Cas had explained that the sketchbook was a personal record and not for anyone else.
Thank you Cas for a most enjoyable day. We understand the value of keeping a sketchbook – let’s hope we do it!
Report by Ros