October 2022: The Inspiration Ecosystem

I like to think of inspiration as an ecosystem instead of a light that turns on and off or a magic that comes and goes. It's a spacious, complex and living thing that pulls together all of our own ideas and experiences with the things we've seen and been impacted by. It cycles through seasons, and it takes time to build up and flourish or to begin to dwindle.

A way that I tend to my ecosystem is through sketchbooking - making marks, collecting my ideas and trying out lots of and lots of things. There's space, and need, for all kinds of pages. Diversity makes the inspiration strong and resilient. I try to plant every idea that comes to me, even if it's brief - a phrase, some colors, whatever. Experimental things that I'm doing for the first time come in like seeds, and retrying and continuing ideas nurture what is already growing.

I keep my archive of sketchbooks readily accessible because I am always going back to them, browsing, seeing things from a new perspective. Since 2016, I've filled up over 20 sketchbooks in addition to about 20ish journals. I thought it'd be cool to revisit some of my older sketchbooks and take you along. I felt full of ideas when I was going through and photographing these and I hope you feel the same when once you've seen them too.

Day 1: my first* entry Nov 30, 2016

Here's the first page of my first sketchbook. I tried to draw Danielle, I tried to write the word happy, and then later I tried drawing a pen and some people I saw sitting in a cafe. I was a beginner, beginning.