Developing ideas for your sketchbook

Kathleen Kay

For the Summer Journal I like to suggest plausible reasons to laze in the sunshine, looking busy with pad and pencil poised. So, for folk who already keep a visual journal and to encourage those who haven't yet started, why not enjoy the sunny ambience of the garden, the park, the mountains or the coast, wherever relaxation comes easy, and have a doodle designing suns.

If daunted by the blank expanse of the sketchbook page, use a compass or draw round a £2 coin or even a lid from a plastic milk bottle to produce several circles randomly spaced over the page. Lazily doodle some facial features then add the spikes, points or flames. A large, detailed face may have just a little decoration around the edge, or a tiny face might be emblazoned with long rays of lines or swirls.