I like to pay attention. That is, I try and undertake all things I do with awareness, with a focus and concentration. This encompasses not just being aware of what I am looking at (pretty obvious I know when undertaking observational drawing, but your mind does wander sometimes!), but also giving the proper attention to the materials I use. More than this, as I draw in museums and I want the materials I use to stand up to the rigours of numerous visits and prolonged drawing, there are various practical aspects that I have to be aware of. Balancing a drawing board on your lap, clamping separate sheets of paper to it to keep it in place, juggling pencils and erasers and pencil sharpeners all the while perched on a tiny stool for hours or days on end while sitting in a draft answering questions from the curious is not for the faint hearted. However, I have found an amazingly effective and inspirational solution for at least one of these problems, the others I am working on.
Helen Frost makes some of the best drawings books available anywhere. Not only have they been designed with just this scenario in mind, that is, drawing while sitting, making them perfectly balanced on your lap, but they are beautifully hand made of a quality that is hard to come by these days. That might be because each one is custom made for artists by a classical trained artist. They can be created with your own choice of acid free art papers in an assortment of your favourite colours, hand sewn silk coloured headband, ribbon place holders and tie closures, and they are all hand sewn in waxed linen thread, and bound in linen or book cloth, even leather if you wish. She also offers tempting extras like marbled end papers and glassine interleaving. They are an absolute delight to hold, open and draw in. To top all of this, she also offers a guarantee:
We guarantee that if you fill this sketchbook with drawings and studies, it will improve your drawing!
After having used my books, strangely, I do feel this guarantee works! Somehow, it seems to “draw” good drawing out of me. It must be something about the quality of the paper, the feel of the cover and the size, which is perfect, not too big and not too small. Although I must admit, they are so beautiful that it took me a while to start using them. I now have a small collection in different colour covers and with a variety of coloured papers. They do, of course, cost more than a normal sketch book, but they are not normal. I have never found anything like them elsewhere. They are an investment towards the quality of your future drawings.
