I feel like I’ve finished the course now and I certainly have a bulging sketchbook to show for it! But when I look back through my work I believe that while some of the pages are balanced and complete others lack something. Of course it’s never too late!

This page has lovely visual texture and the colour is beautiful but I thought though that it really only provided an interesting background for something more.

The page facing it has a collaged image of one of our old banjos. It’s cracked and doesn’t play well but we love it! I mixed up acrylic paint in a deeper value of the teal/turquoise in the colours of the background and used it to stamp the word banjo. These soft foam stamps are a favourite tool of mine but I’ve had them for many years and I don’t know how easy to get they are right now. Scrapbook suppliers might be worth a look if they appeal to you. If you don’t have stamps you can always use ransom note letters or hand written text.

This page features a closer detail of the same banjo and here I’ve used a different font in lower case. I also added white to the paint for the last letter so that it would show against the dark wood of the frame. I use a lot of text in my textile work so I like that these pages have a connection with my fabric and stitch pieces. On a quilt text works well because it provides shapes to quilt around in what would otherwise often be empty space. On the page words add interest and balance to the the composition.

Flipping through my book I found this page which appeared very unbalanced. All the colour and detail was across the centre and to the right of the open spread. Stamping MOTH in a column on the left gave instant visual weight which I feel makes for a better composition.

The sprayed pages I created during the fourth module were a great surface for these stamped letters as some of the spotty marks are visible through the shapes. I think maybe the solid font I used here is a little heavy for the subject matter – I might have to add another layer of sprayed colour to soften the effect of the word. Will this book ever be truly finished!!

The narrower positive letter shapes are more delicate and there’s less of the very heavy paint colour so I think this page works better!

So, although I thought I was finished with the course there’s always time for reflection. Looking back through the pages you see everything with a fresh eye and wonder why you didn’t know what to do first time round!

Remember – this is your sketchbook and there is no right or wrong way to fill it. Make it as personal as you like. Include all the things that fascinate you or that you love. Make it your own!

Bye for now, Linda x