Sketchbook Versatility with Laura Horn

Sketchbooks are a big part of mixed media artist Laura Horn’s (Ep.32) painting process. They allow her to follow ideas and be creative in her problem solving.

And for this reason, she doesn't ask one sketchbook to be all things. Instead she has several different types of sketchbooks.

The first isn’t a sketchbook at all. It’s a journal. She writes about her art. She writes about her experiences in the world and new ideas for paintings and series. She writes about how paintings are going and her thinking. ⁠

Next comes her scrappy sketchbook. This is another private sketchbook and you’ll probably never see it on instagram. It’s important to have a safe place to explore new ideas and that’s where the scrappy sketchbook comes in. She’s beginning to think out ideas in loose ways. Brainstorming. Mark making. This color with that color to see what happens. Ideas alive and brewing.⁠

Then comes her painting sketchbooks. She likes to finish paintings in her sketchbooks before bringing them out into the world as larger pieces or on canvas.

She works across several different series, and keeps them separate in different sketchbooks.

⁠Put it to Practice:

Sketchbooks are a great way to do the thinking part of your painting practice. Some of that thinking may be in words but some of it may be in paint.

By creating work in sketchbooks, you are lowering your expectations on a finished product. You are giving yourself space and permission to really play. And then if an idea looks like it’s ready to go out into the world as a finished painting, you’ve already built a road map for how to create it.