What a great class to encourage ideas for a sketchbook practice. I actually started 3 sketchbooks (all handmade with mixed media paper). The first thing I did was grab a larger one (book 1) and painted some willy-nilly squares and rectangles with some unopened gouache I had. Great for removing the fear of the blank page as well as using a new-to-me supply without fear. The next thing I did was pull out a smaller one (book 2) and worked some color palettes. My inspiration was from some "coloricombo" emails (E. MacLeod) that I've been getting for several years. It was a lot of fun to revisit those and use them for my own sketchbook inspiration. I went to a local used bookstore and found the perfect book to use as inspiration for some plant studies (book 3). Finally, the last thing I did was go to unsplash and find a pic to recreate (back to book 1 for this). I never went back to the paints, but wow, my head is full of ideas now - as well as pages in my sketchbook waiting for some more filled pages.

colored pencil plant studies

color palettes using arrtyx markers

colored pencils