The Notebook ... DIY

Recently, I realized that I kind of miss painting. Sure, I doodle every now and then, make an occasional illustration, but I haven’t been painting for ages, and I’m fairly certain I forgot how…  

What I really needed was a nice sketchpad. I actually have a bit of a thing about notebooks in general. It’s hard to explain but they just have to feel right.

Getting one was a bit of a problem. I couldn’t find anything suitable in local stationary and I didn’t know any of the brands available online. Well… there is always Moleskine, which I love, but using it for some embarrassing attempts would be just wrong. 

In the end I decided to make my own sketchbook. I found sheets of decent watercolor paper in the tiny shop called Paper Mint in Mapusa, and few excellent tutorials on Pinterest. 

In the end I used this one for stitching the pages and this one for making the cover. My book would probably turn out a bit neater if I actually followed any of the instructions instead of just skimming it, but it does the job.

I decided to make it more of an art journal in order to overcome the “it has to be perfect” paralysis. I have to say, there is sth. very liberating in having a designated notebook for all the experiments, trials and attempts, no matter how horrible the outcome!