Hello August,

hello new creative breeze.

I’ve been sensing, or better say knowing, something is going to be very different really soon, 2 days ago (July 30th). And it happened! A shift in my energy occurred and the most visible and evidential kind of thing to prove it, was me being all keen on starting a brand new daily sketchbook. Which I did. And boy oh boy do interesting things flow out of me. This was July 30th:

This really is a shift since I haven’t been drawing or even creating anything daily for quite a while now. And I guess it came in just the perfect moment for August. Why? Because August has been a Sketchpack Project month for me for a few years now. Let me explain. Sketchpack Project (SP from now on) is a lovely creative project started by Di Metcalf from South Africa and held online in a FB group. Here’s what Di wrote about this project in the group:

“The Sketchpack Project is an annual event taking place during the month of August.

It is a sketching initiative open to anyone who wishes to visually record their days during this month.

From 2011 until 2020 an actual sketchpack was available, each page being approximately 10cm x 8.5cm, so it is not a 'big' commitment.

The idea is to get back into or start a daily creative sketching habit and share with like minded folk, so this is a sharing rather than teaching space.

Each year I come away richer having been a part of it.”

I must confess I never really finished a full accordion book (original Di’s idea for this project) and I also digressed from accordion books quite a bit but it was still very enjoyable to be part of group dynamics and seeing what other people came up with. Looking back now, I also see this recurring theme of me wanting to needle felt in summertime :) Let me share some photos…

My Sketchpacks up till now

I first took part in SP back in 2015 when I made myself a lovely accordion from recycled paper and set about filling it with sketches for my needle felted pincushions. This one was relatively filled and if I remember correctly, I needle felted alongside for a while as well.

First time participating in 2015.

In 2016 I wanted to practice drawing faces and also making a little book out of all the pages. I did not succeed at all :)

2016 was a total flop. I made all the backgrounds but that was pretty much it.

Looks like I skipped 2017, no idea why, but in 2018 I wanted to do something good with my SP so I came up with the idea to draw postcard sized illustrations of kitties enjoying their life. The cards would end up being auctioned in various online auctions for helping cat shelters with their always increasing $ needs. I managed to draw about 14 of them before another project distracted me. And I can proudly say that they were all successful at auctions.

In 2018 I went for drawing kitty postcards that ended up being auctioned for cat shelters. I also made them available via my Socitey 6 shop

In 2019 I combined SP with my own project called “My Creative 52 in 2019” where I was following 52 prompts together with friends in my creative FB group. This was my second year running the 52 project and we were promised to have our works exhibited in 2020 (little did we know what was going to happen in 2020).

Sketchpack Project became part of “My 52 in 2019”.

In 2020 I didn’t want to stress myself about another unfinished SP so I didn’t officially participate. But Di so graciously invited me to share my Heart Project in the group that I did. I needle felted 9 hearts depicting things I really care about. I sure hope to make more when I get the chance to.

needle felted hearts

In 2021 I skipped SP again as I was busy with other creative projects that really needed my full-time attention and now we are here, in 2022, with a big question: will I finish this time? Will 2022 be the year when Nina finally completes her Sketchpack Project? :D

Nina’s Sketchpack Project idea for 2022

This year I made myself a little sketchbook out of packaging paper (I really love recycling papers I receive by post) and I already activated all the pages. This means, I randomly splashed some paint across the paper before I cut it to make my book. Why? Because I just want to play in this sketchbook. I also printed out some words to choose randomly if I feel like so, for extra inspiration and I LOVE the first one that came out today. It really set the intention for my whole book. I picked up “see” which is exactly what I intended to do here - to notice what I see in these pre-painted pages and go from there. Let the marks guide me and surprise me. So far it worked really well and I’ll share how everything looks in my next post when I’ll have more to show. I hope you’re as curious about what unfolds as I am.

I am thinking about posting again when I have the first week behind me so that I don’t overwhelm myself and you my dear reader. And until then, I wish you loads of magical moments and creative play times.

With much love,

♥

Nina