I was chatting on the interwebs to the fabulous and talented Jeanette from Craftwhack blog this week and we were talking about which sketchbooks we use and which we like best.  I am a bit of a sketchbook junkie, but I usually end up filling the same ones.

I would love to have a single sketchbook and fill it full up with artistic-ness and brilliance.  So, off I go to find the perfect sketchbook for this task, the book with the correct paper weight for each idea, the best size of paper and of course the ideal colour pages.  With that all in mind, I would need a sketch book with cardstock, sketching paper, watercolour paper, tracing paper and marker paper.  Of course I would also need pages of all sizes from tiny squares to big double spreads and a selection of paper from black to white via kraft.

Not going to happen, unless I make my own (this I have thought about and it may happen!).

I really am quite happy hopping from one sketchbook to another and lucky enough that I have a lovely selection to work with.

Here are some of my favourites –

Big Black Bee for paper variety, they make spiral sketchbooks with black paper, or regular, or grey or kraft paper inside.

Seawhite of Brighton are a British company who make lots of sketchbooks including their ‘starter sketchbook’ which has nice thick paper and only 32 pages, so they are quick to fill and admire!

Canson 9×12″ spiral bound ‘sketch’ is my all purpose, sketching in pencil and pen book.

Canson 11×14″ ‘Mix Media’ is another well used sketchbook which I am constantly filling.  It has thicker paper than the sketch book above, which makes it ideal for paint and ink as well as pencil and pens.  I probably go through these so quickly because I am always messing up with my paints and ink!!

Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook is a lovely book which is a very nice long horizontal size and I use it for watercolours and brush pens mainly.

Do you have a very favorite sketchbook?  Are you my hero and have books full of bulging pages?

Other supplies I like to make marks with are: brush pens – Tombow and Koi have an amazing range of colours from bold to subtle, Micron pens because they have sizes from brush right down to teeny tiny and Pilot Parallel Pens which have insanely wide nibs and are used like calligraphy pens as well as to draw with of course.

The brush in the picture is my very favorite brush ever, a sumi brush which I use all the time (as you can tell by the black bristles).

Finally, a few books for your perusal.

While I am not a big colouring in fan, I like to draw sheets and doodles which I colour in and enjoy working on, so books like Chris Riddell’s Doodle A Day are super inspiring and you never know, I might make a doodle a day!

Craft for the Soul by Pip Lincolne is not an ‘art’ book, but it is an inspiring book whether you want to make art or crafts or recipes!  A work out for your creative soul.

The Creativity Challenge by Tanner Christensen has lots of prompts to get you moving creatively.

Last but not least is Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers by Lisa Congdon which just makes you want to grab a pen or pencil and draw a garden! Her style of illustration is infectious and encouraging.

What are your very favorite art things?  Share in the comments, then I can fuel my addiction and add to my collection. As long as I use them all, that is ok isn’t it?!

Happy Friday x