I’d ordered Stabilo NatureColors highlighters and Zebra Mildliners for my planner, but the moment they arrived I wanted to know how they’d behave on Alpha paper. Are they waterproof? Could they work as a sketching underlayer to block in a scene before adding watercolor or ink on top? Swatching each pen was essential, so of course I turned the whole test into a page.
Stabilo NatureColors and Zebra Mildliner highlighter swatches — Stillman & Birn Alpha, April 2026
The NatureColors went down in somewhat random lines, that became this squarish shape. The Mildliners in simple parallel lines on the right. I did test them with water, and they are waterproof. The underlayer idea, to make a quick highlighter sketch, then build color on top, is still sitting in the “to try” pile. Documenting a delivery this way is considerably more interesting than sketching each pen! I do love making color blocks. Or in this case, color stripes.
Stabilo NatureColors and Zebra Mildliner highlighter swatches with Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle — Stillman & Birn Alpha, April 2026
The strip of color in the middle of the page is a Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencil, Sepia 10%. I’m a little obsessed with Sepia. It fits nicely as a soft, light neutral color. Museum Aquarelles are exceptionally soft and produce beautiful washes, and this one is quietly auditioning for a place in my standard travel kit. I may have to experiment with them more.
The right page of this spread has a little journaling alongside the first ten days of April weather. I’m working on adding a bit more journaling to my sketchbook pages, to hold memories, and capture moments.
Time for a catch-up post on the food diary. I’m still using the Shikiori markers. Four days, four very different spreads, and a peek into what happens when I sketch under varying degrees of brain function.
I forgot to log the Amareno cherries I ate by the spoonful while cooking lunch. Those deep jewel reds were so fun to paint, and drawing bigger than usual suited them. The Miss Jones cream cheese icing on the right got its own sketch too, because apparently I also ate several spoonfuls of that while making dinner. I have regrets. I suspect the extra sugar gets my heart going. And yes, for mysterious reasons I have been bingeing more sugar lately. Trying to rein that in.
Saturday 4 April 2026 — Food Sketch in Stillman & Birn Delta
Saturday was a proper cooking day with teriyaki vegan pulled pork, jasmine rice, and zucchini noodles. It was very good and I was pleased with the sketch. I did this day’s sketches in the moment! My sunflower plate with the purple shadow wash underneath is one of my favorite things I’ve painted in this book so far. (And I didn’t forget to include the rest of the icing I finished off on the second day of it being open!)
Sunday was a big food day. Bento box with dolmas, baby carrots, hummus and herb garlic cheese (vegan) in one half, cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives in the other, then salmon with roasted vegetables and mac and cheese for dinner, finished off with lemon olive oil cake muffins and a lemonade. It looks like a cheerful parade of colorful shapes across the page, which is exactly what it was.
And then Monday. I was not feeling well, and it shows. The whole spread went down in a loose green wash and I forgot to sketch the cookies entirely. The little pink heart in the corner was doing its best. Some days the diary is a beautiful detailed record, and some days it’s an honest green blob. That I’m keeping up is a miracle, when the bad brain hits. I blame the sugar and the allergens I had eating out on Sunday. Which is the whole reason I like to sketch my food, so it’s easier to find the culprits, when the body crashes or outbreaks or flares up days later.
Before I put my handmade paper ink swooshes into the portfolio book, I wanted to use the backs of the cards. Can’t have blank paper! What’s the fun in that? Plus the chromatography aspect is so much fun, and what would happen if I had more paper to work with for a larger separation potential?
So I did what had to be done. I made a mess. A beautiful, atmospheric, very satisfying mess. I even had water and ink dripping off the page!
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor PaperRobert Oster Graphite on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor Paper.
Robert Oster Graphite was one of my favorites from the chromatography lesson I posted about recently. That deep complex near-black opens up into the most beautiful teal and rose separation in the lighter areas. It looks like a nebula. I’m a little bit in love with it.
Then I wanted to see what this particular handmade paper does with some of my granulating watercolors. Granulating watercolors behave very differently depending on the paper. how much separation the pigments have causing that elusive “watercolor magic.” This handmade paper is cotton, and it does a very good job of having very even washes once it is dry. So watercolor magic? Not so much.
The granulation is visible, but the paper holds the pigments fairly close together rather than letting them really spread and separate. It’s a quieter, more even look. Perfect when you want smooth washes.
Roman Szmal Lava and The Tint — handmade paper test
I’m loving that Roman Szmal Lava in particular. I’m looking forward to using it a lot more. That dark reddish color, and it has lovely granulation on different paper.
I tested The Tint alongside it, to sample how pink versus yellow is it on this paper. A nice striking pair on the page.
Gansai Tambi Cosmic Olive and Ecoline 416 Brush Pen Sepia — handmade paper test
The Cosmic Olive did not separate nearly as much as it does on other papers, and the Ecoline 416 Sepia marker turned out surprising flat. I expected more blooming when I added water.
In the food sketchbook, the Delta, I’ve been using the Shikiori markers to sketch my food, so it was time to do a full color chart. Beautiful colors and they react strongly to water. I love that.
Sailor Shikiori Markers — full color swatch reference
The Shikiori markers do something I find absolutely lovely, add water and they bloom outward in that soft, spreading way that reminds me of how Faber-Castell watercolor markers behave. Very satisfying, very painterly. It’s easy to make a lovely watery mess, and I adore that. The Delta paper the results were clean and bright, and holds up well to markers and lots of water.
The Shikiori line takes its name from 四季織 — shikiori — meaning “weaving of the four seasons,” and the color names live up to that. They’re all Japanese seasonal and nature words, and I think they’re worth listing out properly because they’re just so beautiful:
Doyou — midsummer · Chushu — mid-autumn · Rikyucha — tea-brown, named for the tea master Sen no Rikyū · Tokiwamatsu — evergreen pine · Neosumire — sleeping violet · Shimoyo — frosty night · Miruai — meeting of seaweed · Wakauguisu — young bush warbler · Shigure — autumn rain shower · Fujisugata — shape of Mount Fuji · Yozakura — night cherry blossoms · Sakuramori — cherry blossom grove · Kinmokusei — osmanthus flower · Yodaki— night waterfall · Okuyama — deep mountain · Irori — hearth fire · Yamadori — copper pheasant · Souten — blue sky · Yukiakari — snow light · Yonaga — long night
Back in December when my Invent came I had been searching online and found Nick Stewart, who has swatched every Diamine Inkvent calendar for years. I was captivated by his method. In January I dabbled in his Udemy course, Fountain Pen Ink art. I also bought some of the inks for that course that really seemed to separate chromatically in breathtaking, and beautiful ways. I’d taken a toe dip into the course, with the few inks I had, and the handmade cotton watercolor I’d gotten for Christmas. The paper is from Leather Village — 400gsm, rough textured, with those beautiful deckle edges. A simple test, with just a couple inks, to see what the paper and the ink would do together. The method to get the most chromatography from the ink is to lay down a lot of water, then drop in the ink.
Noodler’s Rome Burning on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor PaperDiamine Graphite on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor PaperDiamine Graphite and Robert Oster Graphite on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor Paper
The two graphites looked very different! Diamine Graphite is a soft, cool grey-blue. Robert Oster Graphite is dramatically darker, and look at that pink and teal fringe bleeding out at the bottom.That chromatography is lovely, with those hidden colors separating out as the water carries them across the paper.
Noodler’s Rome Burning on Stillman & Birn Alpha — Chromatic World
I had also done this fun exercise, the Chromatic World in my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. You may have seen this in my “Early January 2026” post. You can really see how much Noodler’s Rome Burning in particular explodes when it hits water. That is one ink. One ink, water, and a circle. The gold, the ochre, the warm brown, the ghost of lavender — all of it was hiding inside Noodler’s Rome Burning, waiting for water to pull it apart. I find this genuinely magical every time.
When I was playing with ink in my recent food sketches, I got inspired to return to this course and do more extensive ink and paper tests. . Nick’s course uses mostly Bockingford watercolor paper, which I couldn’t source here, so I used what I have handy, and of course had to use different papers to see how they affect the results! I used the Stillman & Birn Delta, Strathmore Watercolor Paper 400 Series Cold Press 300gsm, and Arches Rough Watercolor Paper 300gsm.
The first exercise is the Swatch Painting. You lay a wave or swoosh down with a big round brush loaded with lots of water. Then drop in the ink with a smaller round brush and watch it travel. How much it separates seems very different based on the paper. I used four inks: Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Diamine Earl Grey, and Diamine Good Tidings, though the Good Tidings only made it into the Delta book.
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Diamine Earl Grey, and Diamine Good Tidings on Stillman & Birn Delta
The Delta paper gave me lovely fluid results. It actually holds up to these wet ink washes even better than with watercolor! Australian Opal Mauve separates beautifully, pulling apart into pink, violet, and that surprising electric blue is deeply satisfying. Rome Burning, which is brown as a writing ink, separates to this warm and golden ochre and lavender. Earl Grey is quieter, more restrained, a muted purple that bleeds to soft blue at the edges. The Good Tidings is the dramatic one of the bunch, near-black with that explosive teal bloom.
Look at the Australian Opal Mauve on the Strathmore paper!
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve on Strathmore Watercolor Paper
The four inks are sampled on both Strathmore Watercolor paper, and Arches Rough Watercolor paper.
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve
Noodler’s Rome Burning
Diamine Earl Grey
Robert Oster Graphite
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Diamine Earl Grey, and Robert Oster Graphite on Strathmore Watercolor PaperRobert Oster Australian Opal Mauve, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Diamine Earl Grey, and Robert Oster Graphite on Arches Rough Watercolor Paper
The Arches Rough gives a noticeably different quality — the texture of the paper surface shows through the ink in a way that the smoother Strathmore doesn’t.
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Diamine Earl Grey, and Robert Oster Graphite on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor Paper
The handmade Leather Village paper is a completely different experience. The rough fibrous surface grabs the ink differently, and the results are wilder and less predictable. Rome Burning in particular practically explodes on this surface. That ink has the best diffusion by far.
I tested the same four inks across all four papers, so you can really see how much the surface affects the results. Here they are side by side.
hromatography swatch comparison — Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Diamine Earl Grey, and Diamine Good Tidings / Robert Oster Graphite on Stillman & Birn Delta, Strathmore Watercolor Paper, Arches Rough Watercolor Paper, and Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor Paper
The final two exercises move into landscape territory, applying the chromatography technique to create actual pictures. Landscape One uses a large wet mass of ink for sky and atmosphere, with simple marks below suggesting ground and grasses. I used Australian Opal Mauve for both versions on the double spread. Nick Stewart Uses Robert Oster Barossa Grape, but I couldn’t find that ink.
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve on Stillman & Birn Delta — Landscape 1
There’s something about that ink in landscape form that feels almost otherworldly — those blue and pink separations read as light breaking through storm clouds. The little reed marks scratched into the wet wash at the bottom anchor it just enough to feel like a place. I had more dripping than I expected, but that is just practice. Wouldn’t this be great for snowy landscapes?
Landscape Two pushes further, adding more structure and a sense of depth. I used Robert Oster Graphite for this one, and it might be my favorite thing I made in this whole session.
Robert Oster Graphite on Stillman & Birn Delta — Landscape 2
The way Robert Oster Graphite separates in a wet wash — those deep plums, the pink spatter, the teal at the edges — makes a landscape that feels moody and atmospheric without any real effort to make it so. The ink does the work. That little glimpse of a structure in the negative space at the center, the misty ground below. If you blot the ink while it’s still wet, you get even more of that pink underlayer.
This Robert Oster Graphite is certainly the star player in this chromatography method! Honorable mention goes to Rome Burning, for it definitely separates well.
I did not plan to start another food sketchbook so soon. I said at the end of the last one that I’d be folding food sketching into my regular daily sketchbook going forward. But then I didn’t. Ha! I grabbed this Delta thinking it has fewer pages, and would be great for March. Also, tracking my allergens is genuinely easier in a dedicated book, and here we are. Food Sketchbook No. 6.
This one is a Stillman & Birn Delta, softcover, 5.5 × 3.5 inches, 270gsm cold press in ivory. I’ve tried the Delta paper before, one year ago exactly! I did not love it for watercolor. However, for ink it’s been great. Very wet ink washes with loads of water, it doesn’t even buckle!
I book started on March 9th, intending to keep going through the month. But then those allergens hit, and I only got two days done. Both are done in Shikiori markers, because I was thinking markers would be fast and I was worried about not keeping up.
Monday 9 March 2026 — Food Diary in Sailor Shikiori markersTuesday 10 March 2026 Food diary in Sailor Shikiori markers
These are Sailor Shikiori markers. Japanese brush markers that take water beautifully. I do love that watery look. I had used Faber-Castell watercolor markers for food a few years ago and loved how they looked. I had these close by, so they were the obvious choice when I started this new book, hoping using marker would be a fast and easy method.
I got two days in. Once almost three weeks has passed, I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch-up, so I decided to jump in with my birthday. But I also knew I needed a fast method this busy week. One of my favorite sketches previously was a monochrome silhouette style, but I couldn’t remember if I’d done it in the 023 ink, or the Doyou ink. Obviously this means I had to both this week!
A fast way to record, and then the fun comes in the lovely ink washes as the dark lines are diluted.
Monday 30 March 2026 Food Diary in Shikiori marker 023.Tuesday 31 March 2026 Food Diary in Shikiori marker Doyou.
The 023 has the deeper purple undertones, while the Doyou leans toward the browns. Both work beautifully in the silhouette format, and the way the marker ink blooms into the wet wash below is very much what I was going for here.
Wednesday 1 April 2026 Food Diary in Diamine Good Tidings Ink wash.
I wanted to keep going with the black inks, and I had the Diamine Good Tidings nearby. I really need to write the inks higher on the page, because doing it near the margin, they get cut off when I scan! I loved the color bleed on this ink so much!
I remembered the Udemy course on fountain pen ink art by Nick Stewart that I’d dabbled with back in January — specifically his chromatography exercises, which are all about how inks separate and bloom when water is introduced. That’s exactly what was happening in these food spreads. One of the inks he uses in that course is Noodler’s Rome Burning, so I knew what ink I was going to do next!
Thursday 2 April 2026 Food Diary in Noodler’s Rome Burning Ink washFriday 3 April 2026 Food Diary in Robert Oster Graphite Ink wash
The Robert Oster Graphite is also used in Nick Stewart’s course, and I can see why! Look at those colors! Deep plum-to-grey shift with the blue bloom and pink undertones in the wash is doing a lot of atmospheric work for what is essentially a record of sparkling water and a quesadilla.
From Shikiori markers to fountain pen inks. Now I’m energized to get back to the exercises in that Udemy course, and see what these inks can do!
I started recording the weather alongside the daily dates in my sketchbook back in January 2023, Volume 12. Over three years now. It’s become one of those quiet anchors of my sketchbook. Even in the months where I sketched almost nothing else, the dates and weather hold the line. After an inflammation hit, or a hard week, or even death in the family, I come back and I catch up the weather. I fill in the gap from whenever I fell off to when I’m picking the sketchbook back up. There’s something grounding about that return.
It makes the sketchbook practice a living, breathing reflection of life itself and that is worth capturing. Here is the flow of the full sketchbook pages for the month.
I had such great energy and joy at the start of the month! I was feeling the spring bloom, and painting my pages with the Winsor Newton Sap Green. Edges class was starting and I was super excited about that.
February tail end and March — A Witch’s Kitchen, CBOS 2026Edges Lesson notes and January CBOS — A Magical Home
Since I really want to include the Coloring Book of Shadows monthly designs in my sketchbook this year, myy completist brain couldn’t leave January and February’s pages missing from the record. So in they went. They really are so pretty when colored.
February CBOS — Altar and Hearth, with Cherry Blossom ink journaling
I’ve been making a deliberate effort to do more journaling in the sketchbook this year. Apparently I was doing journal notes back in January 2023 as well, and I just forgot! I like it, as it captures actual life, not just sketches. It is also a great excuse to use the large collection of fountain pen inks I have!
March CBOS — The Elements, and a Hearts & Honey gradient closing page
Hearts and Honey is the book I’m currently writing, and it’s very hard to document a writing project! They aren’t very sketchable unless I start doing storyboards (those are Hard!) but it’s a big part of my life and it deserves to be documented.
Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, three sketches
This is where the spire series lives in the sketchbook. Three attempts, ink through to direct watercolor. You can read more about that in the March Theme: Three post!
Bathtime at the Reflection Pool — Lovebird in 3 Poses, with Gradient Bar
Sketch outing notes on a color block, and the lovebird page that ended up anchoring the Three post. One bird, three poses, with a watercolor gradient bar.
One Week 100 People — 30 done, faces and figures
I did not do as much as I wanted for One Week 100 People, but I’m happy I got one day of sketching in!
Dates and weather 11–19 March, with a St. Patrick’s Day page in Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Overcast ink.
March broke heat records, by a lot! Over ten degrees above the previous records, some days. The washi border and Irish flag sticker are for St. Patrick’s Day — a little celebration tucked into the data. A dramatic sketchbook page with a deep red and soft teal ink background made with Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn. The stickers and washi tapes are from this month’s Cora Crea box.
Dates and weather 20–31 March — breaking records all week. Ostara at 105°F.
I wanted to sketch, but inflammation hit badly, so a string of dates and weather is all I managed. At least the weather is cooling off! Still unseasonably warm, and matching the record high temperatures.
Edges Livestream 2 notes on a Cosmic Olive wash, alongside the Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 Cosmic palette swatches.
Ending the month with some notes from the second and final Edges livestream, then a little color exploration. I had to swatch out this Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 colors.
Like most of my sketchbook pages for the last several months, I have more notes than sketches, but it does capture life as it’s happening. Honestly, I’m surprised I have as many pages done as I do! That’s not nothing. Here is March, on the page.
Liz Steel’s Patreon community theme for March was Three. Three sketches, three objects, three colors, a triad palette all counted, and it is a very versatile theme. I didn’t sketch as much this month as I wanted (hello inflammation hit!), but when I looked back through my sketchbook, three had been quietly showing up all along.
Thumbnail ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, getting acquainted with the subject.Detail sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright spire in ink.Direct watercolour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire in just three colours.
The most obvious was the Frank Lloyd Wright spire. I drew it three times. First just ink, getting acquainted with the energy of it. The second ink sketch was working on getting those complex angles and changes in plane. The spire has this wonderful jagged, faceted quality and it took real concentration to follow all those shifting surfaces. Much more challenging subject than I anticipated!
By the third, I went straight to direct watercolor. I always seem to love direct watercolour. It’s so much more forgiving! . There’s a looseness and confidence that comes from having already worked through the subject twice. Another aspect of three, was using just three colors: Winsor Newton Cobalt Turquoise Light, Winsor Newton Sap Green, and Daniel Smith Transparent Pyrrol Orange.
Something lovely happens when you sketch a single subject three times. I should do this more often. It looses you up, and you get more familiar with it.
One lovebird, three poses — green, orange, and full of personality
I loved this bird! One lovebird, in three poses, taking a bath. I drew these from photographs I took at the time. One sketch wasn’t enough to capture his fluttering energy during his bath at the reflection pool outside. Fifteen grackles were also present, focused on their own baths. Having those three poses meant I could tell the whole little story of this bath on a single page: the cautious approach, the full splashy middle, the ruffled aftermath.
I worked with a very limited set of colors across both subjects. The spire was a three color palette of Cobalt Turquoise Light, Sap Green, and Transparent Pyrrol Orange. For the birds it was a three color palette of Hansa Yellow Light, Sap Green and Trans Pyrrol Orange. I did add a hint of Cobalt Turquoise for the dark shadows on those wing feathers, and of course, Shadow Violet quietly sneaking in for the water. Technically five colors. Spiritually still three. Ha!
One lovebird, three poses, in (almost) three colors.
Then I had to add three design elements to this page! So we have the color gradient. (I do love painting a nice color gradient! Been practicing those for years!), the color swatches, and, of course, the main subject of the sketch. My swatches might be over-large for the best page design, but I still like how it tells the story of the colors as well as the love bird. After all, his colors are what makes him so special!
So that’s my exploration of the theme of three for March. One spire, drawn three times. One bird, three poses. A page with three design elements. Lastly, a palette that tried very hard to stay at three colors and almost made it.
Concluding The Messy Middle from last week, you saw a sketchbook in progress — pages waiting, spaces held open, intentions taped into place. This is the update. The pages are filled. Titles are added.
Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, three sketches
This is my Edges Lesson One outdoor outing — the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire at the little commemorative park at Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, sketched on location. I knew it was going to be the last good weather day for a while, so there was no hesitation — I had to get out there while I could.
The sketches are chaotic in the best way — three poses of the spire, which also happens to tie in perfectly with Liz Steel’s Patreon March Challenge of three things. The outing felt messy and alive, and I wrote all of it down right there on the page while I was still sitting in the shade. I finished this page by adding the date and the Title to it. I also tried to lift the wet paint transfer that the wind had put on the ink sketches.
Bathtime at the Reflection Pool — 15 grackles and 1 lovebird
But this is the page that made the whole outing. I’d gone to sketch the spire, and I found a lovebird.
Fifteen grackles and one lovebird, bathing at the reflection pool. A few escaped from a pet store years ago, apparently, and they’ve been surviving in the wild ever since. I spotted it, grabbed some photos, and left the blank page so I could paint these birds at home.
One lovebird, three poses — green, orange, and full of personality
Three lovebirds — one lovebird in three poses, because it was there taking a bath. They’re green and orange and yellow and absolutely full of personality. The journaling on the left is written in that teal colour block wash, and it holds the whole story of the outing: the victory of getting outside, the chaos of the spire, the unexpected gift of the birds.
One Week 100 People — 30 done, faces and figures
The One Week 100 People page got its finishing touches too — thirty people including the children, faces in watercolour on the left, ink figures on the right. I added the numbers and the titles to finish off this page.
Weather log 11–19 March 2026 — record breaking heat in March
I knew my outing day was the last cooler day for awhile, but wow has the heat spiked! Breaking records by a mile! And it’s just going to get hotter, if you can believe that. I don’t usually see these kind of temperatures until May. We went from a warm pleasant 84°F on Wednesday the 11th to 103°F — record breaking — by Wednesday the 18th, with an Extreme Heat Warning extending through the 22nd. In March. The thermometer icon I drew in red says everything. And it’s only getting hotter!
Titles and notes help complete pages, and aid in telling the story of the everyday life I’m documenting with my sketchbook. This mini series of posts has shown a bit of the process for what is usually only shown completed. It’s easy to think I should complete pages in just one sitting, all perfect, but the truth is that isn’t how it’s done, really, if you are going to add a little sketchbook design to your pages.
If you’ve been following the Illustrated Food Diary for a while, you know the premise is pretty simple: I sketch what I eat, sometimes with calories, carbs, and cost noted alongside. Same subject, every single day. Plates, bowls, bottles of sparkling water, the occasional bag of chips.
It could get very repetitive very fast. And honestly, without some intentional page design, it does.
I’ve been thinking about page design since taking Liz Steel’s Sketching Now course — Sketchbook Design — and with Sketchbook Volume 24 (my 5th food sketchbook,) I got serious about actually applying it to the food diary. Near the back of the book I filled a few pages with wireframe sketches: little thumbnail layouts exploring different ways to organise a page. What Liz called recipe book in the Sketchbook Design class. Some ideas came from Liz, some from scrapbooking, and some I just made up. The note I wrote on the title spread still holds: design makes it look so much better.
Page Design — sources and first thumbnails, Vol. 024Wireframe page design layout concepts.Wireframe page design layouts for S&B Epsilon 5.5 x 3.5-inch Landscape sketchbook.
Here’s what I landed on as my toolkit.
Colour blocking is my favourite for making plates really pop. A solid band of colour behind the food — yellow, teal, pink — does something almost magical: suddenly the sketches read as a designed page rather than a collection of doodles.
Saturday 5 July — Food Sketch page with yellow colour block
The baseline layout — everything lined up along a common ground line — gives a page a clean, almost theatrical feel, like the food is on a little stage. The variety of shapes along that line (round bowls, wedges of quesadilla, tall bottles) creates a natural rhythm without any extra effort.
Monday 7 July — Food Sketch page with baseline layout.
Column dividers are great when you have a lot of items and want to create clear sections without things feeling cluttered. Vertical bands separate the day into distinct moments, and it ends up reading almost like a magazine layout.
Saturday 12 July — Food Sketch page with column dividers.
And then there’s direct watercolour with a simple frame — no planning, just paint. This is what I reach for on a busy day, or when I’m catching up after falling behind. It’s the fastest approach, and even a simple frame lifts a page considerably. That Wednesday the 16th spread — done entirely in one deep plum — is a good reminder that design doesn’t have to mean colour variety. Monochrome with a strong layout is its own kind of striking.
Wednesday 16 July — Food Sketch Page in Watercolor Marker, monochrome.
Here are a couple of recent examples from the current volume. Wednesday 4 March is a good fast-day page — loose, direct, just a simple wavy frame holding everything together.
Wednesday 4 March 2026 — Food sketch page in direct watercolour, simple frame
Thursday 5 March captures a dining out day — the teal colour block gives it just enough structure to feel intentional, and it nicely documents that mix of restaurant and home food in one spread.
Thursday 5 March 2026 — Food Sketch page with teal frame including a dining out dinner.
The wireframe sketches aren’t precious — they’re just a menu I made for myself, so that when I sit down with the book I’m not starting from zero. I can glance at them and think colour block day or baseline day and just get on with it. Variety of layouts keeps it interesting for me, and on days when I just can’t, a simple frame and loose direct watercolour is still a page worth keeping.
If you want the full backstory on how I first approached page design recipes for this sketchbook size, I wrote about it back in Food Sketches Week 27.
You can see all posts of this food sketchbook volume 24 here.
The plan was to sketch at the gym business center, dedicated time and space, no excuses. It worked. I spent an hour there on Thursday with my sketchbook open and my palette out. Having that contained, intentional time made everything easier. Even the faces from Stargate SG1, which I was sketching from photos, came more readily than they do at home. There’s something wonderful about sitting down to sketch rather than sketching when distracted.
The portrait grid was directly inspired by Liz Steel’s approach this year, Mine are small watercolor faces in a taped-off grid, about 1-inch square. I used narrow green masking tape, which you can see in the photo. The portraits are mostly SG1 faces, though mixed in among them are three self-portraits I drew holding up my camera!
I painted directly in watercolor, no pencil underdrawing, and I did not wait for paint to dry. The color blooms that resulted are some of my favorite things on the page. I was working pretty wet, and puddles of color bleeding, especially in the backgrounds, did beautiful things! Colors drifting into each other, faces softened by wandering washes. The whole grid has a dreamy, watercolory quality I really love.
Skin tones came from Buff Titanium, Potter’s Pink, and Van Dyke Brown. Other colors included Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Sap Green (Winsor & Newton), Forest Green (Sennelier), Cobalt Violet, and Shadow Violet. (All paints are Daniel Smith, unless otherwise called out.) One brush throughout: the Rosemary & Co. R13.
The gesture figures on the facing page are a different story. Real people, sketched live, with brush and Van Dyke Brown wash. People walking past, sitting, moving. Seven of them. I’m proud of those. I love the parent with two kids the best.
Twenty-seven people total. The challenge calls for a hundred in a week, and I started on Thursday. We will see if I am able to do more this weekend, but if this is where I land, I’m happy with it. Twenty-seven faces, one good hour, and a page I genuinely love.
Jamie's Sketchbook 