Reasons for keeping a sketchbook

I plan to structure some time between commissions to develop my landscape painting and work on my individual style. Notes and drawings from my sketchbooks will provide the inspiration and information for future studio work. I have spent many years working on commissions, producing very detailed pictures over lengthy periods of time largely from photographs – sketching quickly from life to capture a fleeting moment of light or movement doesn’t come easy to me at all. This is probably why I have struggled to maintain a sketchbook – I try to capture every detail, a quick sketch being beyond me and finding enough time even more difficult !

I can take a decent picture with my camera, but it never quite captures what it is that I can see with my eyes. So if I’m not going to get down all the detail I need to capture just the essence of what I see. I’ve thought long and hard about what that is and why the camera doesn’t always see it – I think it’s simply pattern and tone, light & contrast attracts me first and colour is secondary. Some mornings this week I’ve sketched the view from the croft – trying different methods and trying to ignore the detail!