Sketchbook Conversations -- jumping in this week and sharing my thoughts

I have some really great posts lined up for the coming weeks, but before I share those stories, I wanted to jump in with a few thoughts of my own.

One of the things I love about this series is seeing how different artists use their sketchbooks -- there's such diversity. Every artist is different and every sketchbook is, too.

Some of the artists who've shared their stories here are professional artists. Some are not, which doesn't make what they're doing any less valid, any less art. Maybe I'm showing my own hangups with this statement, but I have a feeling that the moniker of artist and what it means to be a real artist hold some people back from embarking on their own artistic explorations.

I wish that weren't the case.

My goal with this series, with my Artist Interviews, with my Skillshare classes and with my blog in general is to encourage you to shatter those obstacles, to be curious and playful and to embrace creating for its own sake, in whatever way brings you joy. Your voice and your vision are valid. Trust them.

I also want to inspire you to explore new avenues, to try things you've never tried before, to ask the question what if? Before I embarked on my creative journey I would never have dreamed that it would be possible for me, a non-artist, to start painting, but when I saw that other non-artists were doing just that, I began to start dreaming and eventually doing.

I know that it is all too easy to look at what other people are making and creating, whether it be on blogs, Instagram, Pinterest and to feel overwhelmed or deflated, as if what you're doing (or even just dreaming) isn't enough -- good enough, interesting enough, big enough... whatever.

There's not an easy solution to that. All you can do is just keep going. Still your thoughts and pick up a paintbrush (or pen or camera or crochet hook or whisk...) and create. That is the important thing. To create. To bring something into the world that wasn't there before. It's certainly good for us when we do it and I think it's good for the world when we do it, too.

A sketchbook is an easy arena for creating. It's small. It's contained. It can be private. It can be a springboard into other projects. It can be a meditation. It can be a pep talk. It can be a playground. It can be a collaboration. It can be whatever you want it to be.

This is why I want to share other artists sketchbooks and their stories with you here.

With next week's Sketchbook Conversations post I'll be back to sharing another artist's sketchbook and story, but until then I want to encourage you to try something new today. Maybe it's a sketchbook. Maybe it's not. I know there's something that's been whispering to you. Listen. Listen and take the first steps in making your dream into a reality.

p.s. this is my 800th post! It's amazing to look back and see how far I've come since the first nearly six years ago.