Continuing my elements that can be part of page design.
Heading
I think the heading here just made this page come together for me. I was very focused on page layout and design. I chose the size to fill the space just so, and I hunted among my stencils for that lettering/font choice. I colored it with that color to match the collage (especially that fun plaid!) and make the page harmonious. something about this particular page is a soothing little rest for the eye among the more complicated pages before and after it, in the sketchbook.
Maps
For this exercise I just had to try a John Ogilby style strip map for a very ordinary city trip. I love maps so much, but they are a challenge!
Secondary Sketch
I decided to add the brushes behind this sketch/color chart to make it a more accurate capture of the actual delivery. And to fit in a secondary sketch, because I am not very good at thinking of secondary sketches! I rather love how this page turned out!
Collage
Though it’s nothing like how collage is used in the lesson, this is how I’ve been using collage a lot these days. Using junk journal ephemera and note cards to add some seasonal flavor and notecards when I’m not sketching other things. It keeps my sketchbook alive, even if I’m blocked in the sketching department.
Diagrams
I made this planning page for Lesson One to help me track everything, and I found I absolutely fell in love with having my planning and design thoughts happening in the thumbnails on the same page as the checklists! This kind of page is now a new must have for me. Thinking on the page, and having such thinking out loud, thinking on the page itself. I really thought about how to place all the various bits of information as well, and I loved adding the drawn lines to really pull it all together!. This might be my favorite page, so far, and it certainly is the one where I learned the most about myself!
I’m working my way through the elements for the first lesson of Sketchbook Design. I started by finishing the previously unfinished pages and adding elements to make said pages look better. Lesson one has seven different elements one can use, and here are three of them.
Adding the border around this color swatching chart really helped this page come together in a way I like a lot now. This page was one of those that sat for a long time in the “I don’t like it but what do I do with it?” arena. It is amazing how much the border helped. So did adding the stenciled column, but in many ways that feels like it reinforces that border even more. That’s where the eyes goes, right to those colors and it’s little border. This page also has that strong text block, which I like for the journaling, but it’s the border I felt did the best work for this page.
For this one I had those weather cards just hanging out there, and the collage ephemera just floating. I wondered how to create a cohesive page. I tried this strong color block, and suddenly this page really came together and looks like one page, rather than random elements. A few pages early I have a solid color background with weather cards on it, but the color block somehow makes it look even more intentional than the solid background. The horizontal aspect gives it shape and movement. I also notice the choice of color strongly impacts the feeling and the color story, perhaps coordinating with other pages in the sketchbook as a whole.
I held the white at the bottom and the right side of the color chart to really help the colors here shine. This page is to document this purchase, and keeping the design asymmetrical with that nice white edge makes this one feel almost soothing to me.
This page has been a breakthrough for me because I combined Page Design with making Design Notes and Thumbnails to actually think on the page, plan my coursework, and I even included a little chart to help me keep track of all the tasks! This page kept me inspired, because I was working out my layouts visually, and kept me from getting lost in where I was with the assignments! Planning plus design thumbnails, all on a designed page! Yes, I will be doing this again!
I have begun the page for the First Lesson as well. I haven’t decided if I’ll put class notes on the elements on this page, or the design ideas for some of the pages, yet. That will develop as I go, since this is a working, thinking-on-the-page page.
The assignment is to have a collection of unfinished pages so we can add elements to them to finish them off in the future. We are encouraged to go back and use older sketch pages, but I have a tendency to prefer very full pages without a lot of white space. Plus, once I’m done and moved on I don’t generally like to go back. Let the page sit as it was, that better captures what the moment was. However, knowing this assignment was coming up I did make sure to leave white spaces, or not otherwise finish off some pages for this exercise.
Additionally, I’m not actually sketching things or objects that much right now, which makes it even harder to select good examples for class. The class seems to assume you have a sketch first, and need to finish the page. Lately I’m more, I have my weather cards, and some notes, but no sketch, how can I finish this page. Slightly different angle. I tend to add color blocks a lot. I love to fill in with abstracts, and color charts. The color charts are usually documenting whatever new art supply I have either ordered, or found again in the dusty bins.
I collected a number of unfinished pages, wondering what I can do with them. And I definitely am adding more text this year, aiming for more documentation, and memories.
Unfinished page dated 14 August 2026Unfinished sketchbook spread with weather and notes on Write Away methodUnfnished sketchbook page with weather notes for 26-29 August 2026.Unfinished page with sketched UFO and Derwent Drawing PencilsUnfinished sketchbook spread, The Grail Method and various notes.
One of these I finished and it became my “Current Sketch”
The rest are still waiting.
I will confess it brings me a surprising amount of stress to have these unfinished pages waiting for so long! I am a completist at heart, and I’ve been itching to get them done, and move on to the fun new things I want to do!
I’m currently working in a Stillman and Birn square softcover 7.5-inches. I’m mostly using the Rotring Isograph Fineliners with Rapidiograph Ink. I also use my TWSBI fountain pens, of course. This is the watercolor palette I’ve been using for ages. Keeping it simple. And since I’m also doing a lot of measuring so far, my new favorite pencil for that is the Tombow Mono100 in 3H. It goes on smoothly, and erases easily.
I am going through the current Live run of Sketchbook Design, and as often happens, I really begin to wonder what did I do for the same exercises in previous years? The Handwriting exercise from the Intro Week is one of the few where I did the page every single time I began the course. Various years have differing levels of participation and completion, but I have always done the handwriting page. Here they are…
January 2021 Sketchbook Design Handwriting Lesson
In January of 2021, I took the first Sketchbook design course, but I apparently did not do many of the exercises. I remember watching all the videos, and livestreams, however.
August 2021 Sketchbook Design Goals and Handwriting
August of 2021 is when I did the best in the Sketchbook Design Class, and it was a real watershed course for me. The lessons began to click, and I really enjoyed the work I did. I’ve long since considered this my “best” and “prettiest” phase of my sketchbook.
January 2023 Sketchbook Design Handwriting
The January 2023 run of the course, I continued with a solid effort to do more of the assignments.
October 2024 Sketchbook Design Handwriting
October 2024 was a group run of the Sketchbook Design course. Well, I think it was supposed to be a group run, but then got cancelled, but since I love this course so much, and every time I go through it I feel like I level up, I did it on my own anyway. This is the year I managed to do the most coursework.
July 2025 Sketchbook Design Goals and Handwriting
July 2025 was a group run, and since life got difficult, I only did a few of the exercises.
This brings us to the 2026 Live run of this course, and I am, as ever, super excited about it. I’m determined to do all the exercises! Especially if this course is only going to have a live run every three years! I always level up, and I always get so inspired by the ideas of others.
September 2026 Sketchbook Design Handwriting
I had so much fun doing this year’s handwriting page. I am currently using a lot of collage in my sketchbook, so I carried that into this page. I also am working with different lettering styles. As with previous years, I tried to stick with what I actually do, or want to do. I’d love to do more calligraphy right now, for example, though I rarely take the time. And this page took a LOT of time. I think I spent over three hours doing this, not including the scanning and uploading time. However, I love this page so much, it is utterly worth it!
My goals for Sketchbook Design have not changed much over the years. I always want to establish that daily sketching practice, capturing life in the sketching of objects and moments. I always want to improve my drawing skills. I always want to improve my page design.
As I’ve mentioned I have taken this course multiple times. I do not always finish, but I have done several of these Sketchbook Goals pages.
This year I am adding in the focus of style elements and the “Grail Method” style of notes. I watched a trio of You Tube videos on The Grail Method by Perry Daniels which inspired me to begin to include thinking on the page and more notes and feelings and comments. An all-in-one approach. Perfect timing for class, and working with these ideas for how to make it all flow and look cohesive, as as sketch more and capture more of real life, even when it’s subtle.
For example, those flowers are made with highlighters which are color matched to the Hobonichi. The page after this one, in the sketchbook, is the color chart for those pens. I’ll share that in a future post.
I went through and looked up all the times I’ve taken, or partially taken, Sketchbook Design. Every class with Liz Steel begins with posting one’s current sketch. A sample of where their style and skills are before beginning the course. I was curious what had I posted before each run, and it always is so interesting to look back and review.
These are from the years 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
This year, it seems I’ve mostly just made pages with weather cards on them, so that is most definitely my “current” style of page!
This is also one of those unfinished pages from my previous entry. Obviously another week passed, so I added yet more date and weather cards. Then I decided it was a good page to finish off by documenting this year’s planner season, and Hobonichi purchasing. Just like that, it’s a page about current life!
Liz Steel’s Sketching Now Travel Sketching live run, begins later this month and I am jumping back in for my third attempt. I did finish the first run. The second run, I started but let’s just say life had other plans. I have tagged the whole archive of my posts if you want to see the full saga. The official start date is May 13th, but I’m getting a head start on the Introduction lessons.
The “Before” Sketch
The Introduction includes a “current sketch” exercise. Your sketching where you are right now, before the course begins. Since I’ve done this before, I decided to sketch my back yard again. This is the same view I did as my first before sketch. Not only has the yard changed, but so has my sketching.
Naturally, I also had to document the fact that after seven months of delays in the landscaping (It’s been a whole drama!) the yard has finally been weeded. Those prickly lettuce plants had grown over six feet tall. Six feet! They were taller than me. I have photographic evidence. I think they were starting to develop permanent occupation plans. So the timing of this sketch gets to commemorate both that drama and its blissful conclusion on the day I did these. A dramatic before and after set of sketches for the yard.
The before sketch, with weeds, is in the Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils, The after sketch is GoldFaber Aqua Markers. You can see the difference in the mediums, since I used the same color palette for both sketches. The marker version is noticeably brighter and more saturated; it’s the same scene, same composition, same palette, but a different medium. I really want to see how different mediums behave, and comparing the same color palette is a great way to do that.
Backyard, full of weeds in in Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils.Back yard, freshly weeded, in GoldFaber Aqua Markers.
The yard features some very photogenic old barrel planters that are in the process of dramatically decomposing. They show up in both sketches as dark, slightly melancholy blobs surrounded by splaying lines. Less moody than the photographs of them!
Back yard sketches, before and after weeding. 30 April 2026.
The Kit
Part of the Introduction is also assembling materials for the travel sketching kit and doing a color/material chart. I wrote about my obsession with testing multiple media in this limited palette.
Travel Sketching Kit, April/May 2026.
Here’s what I’ll be working with for this run:
For line work, I have an Isograph 005 and 0.30, a TWSBI Urban Gray (F nib), a Copic BS, a Pentel Brush Sepia, and a Tombow WB-HB Fudenosuke Hard.
The course calls for graphite, but I’m skipping it since I find graphite too smudgy. I do have the one 3H pencil. For pencil sketches, however, I’m substituting three Derwent Inktense pencils: Charcoal (2100), Neutral (2120), and Sepia Ink (2010). I also have the class palette in Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils, Derwent Inktense pencils, plus GoldFaber Aqua Dual Markers, Albrecht Dürer Pitt WC Markers, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush pens, and Neocolor II water-soluble crayons.
For watercolor, my palette is: Hansa Yellow Light, Hansa Yellow Medium, Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Quinacridone Gold, Transparent Pyrrol Orange, Quinacridone Rose, Potter’s Pink, Sap Green, Cobalt Turquoise Light, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Transparent Red Oxide, Van Dyke Brown, and Shadow Violet. There are also two Caput Mortuum swatches at the side, because I’m currently infatuated with that color.
The Sketchbook
I’ll be starting in my current 6×9 inch Stillman & Birn Alpha, even though I only have a few pages left in it. Shortly I’ll be moving to a 7.5×7.5 inch softcover Alpha. Both are Stillman & Birn, both are the Alpha series, just slightly different proportions. It’ll be interesting to see how the square format feels for travel sketching.
The weeds are gone, the kit is ready, and the barrel planters have been immortalized in watercolor. What more could I need? I’m ready!
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.
