The Year of the Sketchbook: January

The first month of a new year can often feel challenging as we settle back into our routines and deal with the cold winter months.

Having decided as one of my 2026 art goals to do more work in the sketchbook, I found this habit to be very grounding. I had something to look forward to at the end of the day, and could make that sketchbook page a simple or as challenging as I was in the mood for.

What I Explored

This first month was very experimental. I decided that I didn’t want this sketchbook to follow a theme or style, but would become a playful space.

I’m including the date on every page, so I can look back and see what inspired me on certain days, and to keep myself on track: too many days skipped and I’m letting the habit slide. As little as five or ten minutes a day is always manageable, so I make sure to keep my sketchbook and a small set of pencils, paints and pastels within easy reach, so there’s no thinking or prepping involved.

Colour Stories

I love painting with a limited palette, but still try to vary it up from time to time. I’ve switched out my faithful Ultramarine blue for pthalo, an extremely powerful colour, but that makes some luscious purples.

Materials & Techniques

I love my Derwent Inktense pastels. They’re great for creating water colour-like washes and under painting, but dry they add pops of colour and line to really make things sing. I use them instead of acrylic paint in the sketchbook, to allow for quicker drying time, and less prep and cleanup.

My Favourite Pages

This was a very early morning painting where I used collage more structurally, to build up the bushes and the road. I am very pleased with how this turned out and will definitely try this technique again. And those pops of colour just transformed the mood of the original scene, which was taken from an early morning walk in the Welsh village of Llanilar.

Yes this was technically February but never mind.

A slightly odd self portrait started with blind contour drawing and followed with some charcoal and Inktense washes. This took around ten minutes and I had fun trying to create a likeness in very few marks and colours.

Next is this garden study, built using collage under layers and acrylic paint. Building up depth and layers gradually, but keeping it overall very stylised and abstract.

I love starlings, and they’ve appeared in many of my drawings and paintings before. Their beautiful patterns, the shrill chattering and of course the stunning mummurstions. I dug out an old pastel drawing of a starling (shown below) and might be inspired to do a new collage peice based on this.

I’ve also been doing a lot of intuitive landscape work on paper, exploring some new compositions and bright colours. Aren’t they pretty?

Lessons Learned

It’s easy to want to create a perfect painting or sketch on every page, but reminding myself that that’s not the intention is key. Some of the best pages where the ones I played the most with, so the sketchbook has become a good place to switch off. If I want to explore new subjects, sketches for new paintings, then they will live in a separate sketchbook.

And if something is overworked, or doesn’t work, then I’ve learned something about my process.

Seeds for Larger Work

The Llanilar collage intruiged me, and I might be tempted to try this style on a few more villagescapes. Right now I am working on plenty of projects and small works, continuing to work on collage landscapes and even running a few workshops soon, so these studies and short bursts of creativity feel like just the right amount of hard work and relaxation.

If you enjoy seeing the early stages of a painting, I share more over on my website and blog posts, so make sure to sign up!

January Stats

• Sketchbook pages completed: 14

• Most used colour: Dioxazine Purple

• Music I created to: mostly Bluey, thanks to my five year old, but I really want to start listening to instrumental music again, as well as bands like Mumford and Sons and Paper Kites.

  
  

Until next time

Chloe