I’m not surprised that I’ve wound up cutting my Sketchbook down in volume by at least 50%. I’m not the most confident sketcher, so I’d much prefer to bend the rules and do something different. I started by ripping some pages out of the middle (which I’m now using as scrap paper) and then cutting holes out of each remaining page. Add some watercolour pencil and it’s a kaleidoscope! 

I can’t completely ignore my theme (which is ‘The Companion Book’) so I had to add in something imaginative. My inspiration came when I was riding the bus (home after buying a mathematical instruments kit to draw the circles) and I overheard a mother and daughter playing ‘I Spy’. I started remembering how much fun that game could be on long car journeys - particularly as a distraction when I got car sick, which was all the time. That game was kind of a comfort. And it went with me on the road wherever I went. Which makes it a companion. The Companion Book.

Now that it’s finished, it will travel around the world (eep!) and end up in the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Library (eep eep!) Hopefully I can visit it one day. In March, the 2011 Sketchbooks will be in Austin, which is good timing because so will I.