vol 030 – Jamie's Sketchbook

Books and Dragons

A whimsical ink and watercolor sketchbook spread celebrating Midsummer as a cozy bookshelf scene. Two wooden shelves are draped in climbing vines with white daisy-like flowers. The top shelf holds hand-lettered book spines in two clusters: witchcraft and herbalism titles on the left (Leechcraft, Saxon Sorcery, Herbal Lore, Wild Magic, House Witch) with a steaming black cauldron at centre, then psychology and self-help titles on the right (The Happiness Trap, A Liberated Mind, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Disentangle, Set Boundaries, Disease to Please). Small black soot-sprite creatures peek from behind the spines, and a contemplative teal dragon with a question-mark speech bubble perches at the far right. The second shelf holds writing craft books (Million Dollar Outlines, Outline Your Novel), a cup of pens, and a rolled yellow scroll. Below the shelves, a bunting banner spells out MIDSUMMER in teal and multicolour letters, flanked by two crumpled weather-note tags recording Friday 20 June 2026 and Saturday 27 June temperatures. At the bottom of the page, a blue dragon sleeps curled at lower left, a green dragon dozes on an open book at centre with ZZZ drifting upward, and soot sprites cluster at lower right with tiny stacked books. The mood is warm, witchy, and softly celebratory.

So the question comes up, how do I document that I’m buying books, when I buy ebooks, and don’t really have anything to actually sketch? I could sketch the covers. I could sketch the kindle or the kobo. Or I could venture out of the world of observational sketching only, and venture into illustration. Gasp!

Well, if I’m going to venture into illustration, might as well add soot sprites and dragons then! Ha! So here is my illustrated bookshelf. the books are real and purchased, and I really am working on Homestead and Haven. The shelves, the vines, the flowers, the soot sprites, and the baby dragons are just for delight.

Done with ink and watercolor wash, using my standard watercolor palette.

I think my favorite is that poor soot sprite trying so hard not to fall off that weather card! He is having a struggle moment, for sure!

Date and Weather Notecards

A sketchbook spread with a clean white background. Three small handmade weather diary cards in pale yellow are arranged vertically along the left margin (Saturday June 20, Sunday June 21, Monday June 22), and three more along the right margin (Tuesday June 23, Wednesday June 24, Thursday June 25). The center two pages are occupied by two large collaged prints: on the left, an ornate botanical mandala with a sunflower-like starburst in black, white, and gold, surrounded by small decorative flourishes; on the right, a botanical illustration plate showing detailed flowers and foliage in black ink and amber tones, with scientific-style annotations. Temperatures on all six cards range from 105°F to 114°F.

If nothing else this month (or two), I finally attempted to draw little aged note cards to give my weather pages a bit more design. Even when I’m not sketching, or doing much of anything else, I like to keep the weather notes and dates in my sketchbook to mark the passage of time. They serve as a record of when the going was more pitted gravel than smooth highway.

A sketchbook spread on white paper. The left page shows a handwritten weather diary for seven days (Wednesday May 20 through Tuesday May 26, 2026), with each entry recording the date, high and low temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and a small hand-drawn weather icon — sun, partial cloud, or crescent moon. Temperatures range from 95°F to 98°F for highs. At the top right of the page, handwritten notes read "GoFun White No 101" and "Flax Beige No 401." The right page features a collage of three tarot-style cards at the bottom left — one showing a rose, one showing roses with swords, one labeled "Blades of Destiny" with a skull — and a large decorative print in the upper right: an intricate compass rose surrounded by botanical illustrations, pressed flowers, and heart motifs in black, grey, and dusty pink. — Weather diary, May 20–26.

I’m currently working in a new Stillman & Birn 7.5″ square Alpha. Remarkably, this page marks only the fourth spread in volume 30. Thirty!

Recently, my printer stopped working, (too old for modern networks!) which forced me to pivot. I ended up getting a new one, and since I had a junk journal kit on hand, I decided to test print with it. When I didn’t end up sketching anything else to capture the days, I used those pages for collage. I became captivated by that specific shade of aged paper and wondered if my Gansai Tambi paints could match it.

Gofun White 101: A perfect match for the natural shade of the Alpha paper.
Flax Beige 401: Has great potential for an “aged” look, but didn’t quite match these specific printed sheets.

Shifting Plans & Playing with Color

A sketchbook spread dominated by a vivid, mottled watercolor background in loose washes of yellow, green, teal, blue, purple, and red-orange. Scattered across both pages are twelve small handwritten note cards, each recording the date, high temperature, low temperature, and weather icon for one day from Wednesday May 27 through Sunday June 7, 2026. Some cards also note a wake-up time. The cards appear slightly irregular, as if hand-torn, and are drawn to look aged, with outlined borders. Temperatures climb from the mid-90s°F into the low 100s°F — Weather diary, May 27–June 7.

I had plans for sketching, but as the days slipped away, I simply played with watercolor and stencils. I used the Holbein watercolors that I assembled into my Travel Sketching palette (which I talked about in my last post). The dark blue spots were stenciled with watercolor over the color blocked background.

Crafting the Aged Look

A sketchbook spread with a dark, smoky purple-grey watercolor background on the left page, and a soft solid yellow on the right page (left blank). Scattered across the dark left side are twelve small handmade note cards in warm amber-yellow tones, each recording weather data for one day from Monday June 8 through Friday June 19, 2026. Several cards note a wake-up time (5:30, 4:50, 4:00, 4:45, 3:30). The cards are hand-drawn to look aged and yellowed, with dark outlines. Temperatures range from 103°F to 112°F. — Weather diary, June 8–19.

Really diving into how to make these note cards look aged, I used the Holbein palette:

Yellow Ochre: Used for that weathered, historic feel.
Eurasian Jay Rose Grey: The moody background complementary color to make the cards pop.
Jaune Brilliant 1: The yellowed wash on the facing page.

I originally intended to sketch something specific for the summer solstice, but I suspect now that this solid wash of color will remain as my tribute to the day.

Solstice Collaging

Fortunately, this junk journal page felt incredibly fitting for the solstice, so I collaged it in alongside the Jaune Brilliant 1 note cards.

That opacity gave me some trouble over the text. With opaque paints I should probably paint my background first, or stick to a much more transparent paint!

Even when energy is low, keeping a visual record, an illustrated diary is important to me. I miss it, but at least I’ve captured this era in these small ways.

Missed Travel Sketching

Abstract Watercolor Painting in soft greens and yellows, with dark indigo and red accents.

Once again the autoimmune adventures hit hard, and life piled on. I ended up just not doing any of the Travel Sketching class work except the intro kit building, and the current sketch. Now for the hard work of forgiving all the things I cannot control and just accepting the losses. I have, however, decided that I’m going to rest this summer, and not try for the Watercolor on Location group run. I’m obviously needing the recovery time.

It was hard to let go this time. But so be it. Back to the days and days of just listing the dates and the weather to mark the passage of time. I left some white space. In one of those half pages, I did a watercolor abstract like I used to do, and that turned out really well! (See below.)

Before I lost all oomph, I did get the color charts done for the Tombow Dual Brush Markers:

Circles of Tombow Dual Brush Markers swatching colors 090 Lemon Cream, 947 Burnt sienna, 533 Peacock Blue, 228 Gray Green, 026 Yellow Gold, N75 Cool Gray 3, 569 Jet Blue, 761 Carnation, 990 Light Sand. — Tombow Dual Brush Markers in Travel Sketching Palette

Those colors are Tombow Dual Brush Markers: 090 Lemon Cream, 947 Burnt sienna, 533 Peacock Blue, 228 Gray Green, 026 Yellow Gold, N75 Cool Gray 3, 569 Jet Blue, 761 Carnation, 990 Light Sand.

The Tombows do not seem very reactive to water. The second half of each circle was activated with water, and it shows in a couple colors, but not in most of them.

Color Swatches of Holbein Watercolors. — Holbein Watercolors in Travel Sketching Palette

Still in the grip of my obsession with recreating this Travel Sketching Palette (I blame the brain chemistry from the allergen hits!) I bought these Holbein Watercolors. Aren’t these lovely?

Holbein Watercolors in Travel Sketching Palette: Permanent Lemon Yellow W235, Lunar Eclipse Red WG605, Verditer Blue W295, Green Grey W352, Yellow Ochre W234, Grey of Grey W353, Indigo W298, Shell Pink W226, Jaune Brilliant No 1 W231, Lavender W316, Davy’s Grey W355, Eurasian Jay Rose Grey WG661.

Last year I was doing some of these watercolor abstracts. They are such a lovely way to play with color. I had to test this palette with one. I rather like this one. It ended up looking like an abstract landscape. (Also note: I cannot for the life of me get Posca pens to work! Is my climate just too dry? But there is a hint of white showing my attempt!) These abstracts are so good for capturing mood, or a moment that I find they fit documenting life surprising well. They hold memories and feelings quite well.

The complete spread in my sketchbook. A bit more thought on page design than I’ve used in a while, which feels good.

As for this summer, I have a few half pages with white space along with my dates and weather. Perhaps I will be able to sketch items or scenes. I will definitely make more abstracts.

I want to return to illustrated journaling, and documenting life as it happens. That has always been my primary goal, and what drew me to keeping a sketchbook in the first place. I am missing that in my influences and in my own work, so when I regain some oomph, I shall revisit my old inspirations.

I’m looking forward to the run this upcoming autumn of the Sketchbook Design course. Every time I’ve done it, I end up capturing more life and making pages I love. My sketchbook ends up feeling like me.

Dates and Weather from 13 to 19 May 2026. An abstract watercolor painting. Holbein Watercolor swatches. — 13-19 May 2026 with Abstract Watercolor, and Holbein Travel Sketching Palette swatches.

Nine Palettes Now

An abstract watercolor grid painting made up of colorful painted squares arranged in a sudoku-style layout, nine sets of nine color blocks each representing the same limited Travel Sketching palette rendered in a different medium. Colors include yellow, orange-red, blue, teal, olive green, gold, grey, pink, mauve, purple and peach, painted in varied textures reflecting each medium's character.

Remember One Palette, Six Ways: An Obsession? Well.

It’s nine now.

I had to add Tombow Dual Brush Pens and the Holbein Watercolors to the palette family! And I had to open Volume 30 with all of them as my frontispiece.

The concept is simple: same limited Travel Sketching palette, nine different media, arranged sudoku-style. Little nine patches of each medium. The first three nine patches are Inktense, Holbein Watercolors, and Tombow Dual Brush. The second three nine patches are Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers, Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils (the original palette, in the center, and Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush. The bottom three nine-patches are Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens, my standard watercolor palette, and Neocolor 2.

The big surprise? How close in hue I was able to get each medium. The Neocolor 2 are nicely rich and creamy. Without labels you’d have a hard time telling most of them apart in a sketch.

This is the perfect way to really see how the different media work, and feel.

I have thusly begun Sketchbook Volume 30! I have been in a landscape format sketchbook for over a year, testing various Stillman and Birn papers in the 5.5 x 8.5 and 6 x 9 inch books. I am SO glad to be in a bigger book. This is the 7.5 x 7.5 inch Stillman & Birn Alpha and I can already feel the difference. With a little more space, I’m thinking about sketchbook design more and hoping to keep that in mind for this book.