‘I feel I am increasingly being cast in the light of a sketch book artist. If I had to give up something, I could lose everything except my practice of drawing in a sketchbook. Making small art is not fashionable but for my own personal journey it is way more important. You can do it anywhere with anything.’

Award winning artist, Deb Mostert, has created over 100 sketch books over the past 20 years which she has shared with students and in museum exhibitions. While her art practice spans a fourty year career, she has only drawn regularly with a sketchbook for the past twenty. Her only regret is that she wished she had started using sketchbooks earlier. Her drawings have become smaller over time but are an invaluable chronological record of her art journey. Deb’s contemporary art practice of painting, sculpture and public art are all underpinned by a daily drawing routine developed in her sketchbooks.

Sketchbooks and Wellbeing

‘Carrying it and not just having it (sketchbook) in the studio, it becomes part of your life,’ states Deb. ‘It is amazing what gets revealed when you sit and observe.’

Deb carries a small sketch book with her everywhere, sitting in waiting rooms and on public transport, drawing the people and surroundings that are part of her daily life. For her the ungirding process of keeping a sketchbook creates stability and constancy.

‘I love drawing people on trains as nowadays it seems everyone is heads down on a device, so it is easy to avoid their attention. But sometimes I get noticed. Once I had a lady follow me off the train wanting to see what I had done and to ask for a commission. I have been congratulated by older people for doing something other than devouring content on a phone and even had young kids ask to join in. I draw at concerts and music gigs. Performers love seeing the scribbles I make in the dark while listening to them.’

‘I am more happy in my sketchbook because there is not a perceived expectation that you would have when you produce finished works for a gallery. There is no external critique of it. I use it conceptually to work things out, whether that be for a project for a museum or my own thoughts. When nothing seems to work in the studio, to be able to sit down and do a rubbish drawing, doing something concrete makes me feel better.’ Deb tries not to rip pages out of her diary because they are generally bound but instead works over former drawings she dislikes with gouache. ‘I don’t want to eliminate my progress, which what a mistake is, if I can learn from it. How can I learn from it if I remove all memory of it? I like to see the progress I am making.’

She refers to sketchbooks as a private playground where you can indulge yourself, a selfish endeavour. When asked about her feelings when sharing her books with the public she stated, “It is a bit ‘ouchy’ to share my private thoughts, drawings and writings. It makes me vulnerable, but I don’t want to edit myself. On the whole people are grateful, particularly adults, for sharing these vulnerabilities.’

Deb also reveals that sketchbooks help with her spiritual musings. ‘We live a fast life and slowing down is important. We have lost the capacity to do that. I value the practice of sketching in a spiritual way.’ Deb views sketchbooks as a meditative practice to connect to God but also more specifically to communicate a message of beauty and hope in an age where there is much anxiety. ‘Gratitude is at the core of how I feel when drawing in a sketchbook. So much beauty in our everyday lives to sit and enjoy by drawing. Prayer and meditation seem to be part of it, it feels like contemplation to really observe. I do think observation is a deep form of gratitude.’

Deb’s Tips for Working in a Sketchbook.

Do you have a favourite sketchbook and why?

I enjoy Stillman & Birn and Strathmore, especially their toned paper books, but I'm also willing to try any brand. My only deal breaker is if the paper can't handle my markers and pens without bleeding through. I do prefer paper that will handle a reasonable wash. I carry portrait A5 and A4 sizes as an everyday sketchbook but will sometimes select a landscape format for a travel diary.

What is your choice of media when sketching?

I primarily use pens in my sketchbooks, favouring fountain pens I can refill with my preferred brown or grey inks, but also use biro, brush pens, and markers in both soluble and permanent inks. Combined with a small watercolour kit I made myself and a waterbrush, I can be ready for most situations and it all fits in a small pencil case. The extras like oil pencils, white gel pens and water-soluble coloured pencils float in or out depending on my needs or mood. I have discovered over the years that less is more and too many options weigh you down and paralyse you with choice. I will happily combine my media and mostly draw straight in with ink as I don't often have time to carefully block in with pencil when I am drawing on the run. It's a risk making a hash of an ink drawing but lends some excitement to the practice, and when it works it is a delight to have bold confident lines made in the moment.

What advice would you give someone to get better at observational drawing?

Do tons of it! I have enjoyed many years of drawing from life, and trying to record swiftly the gestures, proportions and form of any and every subject matter. It doesn't matter what you chose to draw, just draw what is in front of you. Carry a small sketchbook around with you with a biro and commit to drawing something, anything for two minutes. It is satisfying when you fill a page with say twelve small boxes with a two minute drawing in each. Not a big commitment but it gives you a buzz, and any drawing you can do on a daily basis will help build the practice.

If you can't see where you are going wrong in your drawing and you want a quick feedback loop then use a photo as reference and lay a transparent version of that same reference over your drawing, occasionally checking that you are on track. Not tracing, but checking your own choices and adjusting.

What is your advice for capturing the likeness of your subject?

If you are drawing quickly in public, then it requires stealth and a reliance on capturing gestures more than anything. Much can be described by gesture. Also, look for shapes - shadow shapes are your friend if the lighting allows it.

If you are setting up a portrait from life or choosing to use photo reference, make sure you pay attention to getting a helpful lighting setup, it makes it easier to see form and shapes if light is showing you the way. There was a reason so many masters set up light to play across a face in certain ways. Look at Rembrandt, in the studio he was in control of the light and relies on form. In the field in his quick sketches he uses gesture.

What are some mistakes you see people make when they draw from life?

If you are keen to be accurately representational, then proportions can be the undoing of many an earnest beginning. I still berate myself for not having checked before investing in heaps of rendering to discover that I was way off. Understanding gesture and movement can save your drawings being stiff and having a sculptors sense of form will enormously improve your capacity to make the optical illusion of a 2D drawing believable. Students sometimes feel too precious about the marks they make which makes erasing mistakes or starting over too difficult, so they flounder on when sometimes the only thing to do is to abandon those marks or change them. It is best to be dispassionate about the marks until you feel confident they are what you want to invest in.

What is the best piece of advice about drawing you have learned from someone else?

After a university education in the conceptual concerns of a fine art practice I was keen to learn in an observational way from nature, so I sought external teachers who could help me. My understanding of shadow shapes and form came many years ago from learning under Scott Breton and drawing from plaster casts which was very old fashioned. I have since added to that by watching and learning from animators, illustrators and young and old masters online. Proko, Jeff Watts, Steve Huston, Glenn Vilppu all taught me gestures and a deeper understanding of structure and form. James Gurney inspires me to paint in my sketchbook. There is so much great tuition on the interweb, and a lot of rubbish to avoid too. Experimenting with low risk in my sketchbook opens up new practice and possibilities.

Thank you, Deb, for your heartfelt advice on developing a sketch book practice. Early in my art career I would regularly sketch for enjoyment in a Visual Diary. Unfortunately, with the demands of gallery exhibitions the act of drawing in a book had fallen by the wayside, viewed as something for which I had no time. After speaking with you, I have definitely seen the value of incorporating sketch books back into my daily life, not just as a record but as a way for me to slow down, be still and observe. I think you said it best, ‘It is private playground where you can indulge yourself.’