Kinga’s Sketchbooks

I’ve been an admirer of Kinga’s work for several months now, and I was so excited when she agreed to share here sketchbook with us!   She blogs at Suite 404, where she posts beautiful photographs, glimpses of her artwork, and about her vintage postcard collection.  What’s not to love?!

 

What kind of sketchbook do you use?

I always have a Moleskine plain cahier journal (with the Kraft cover) in my purse/bag. These little books have become my all time favourite for doodling and keeping track of my ideas. I ALWAYS have one with me along with a pencil case filled with pens and pencils. In my studio I work ideas out in typical hard cover sketchbooks…you know the ones with black covers on them. I prefer those because the paper is usually durable enough for painting and gluing and they take a beating…and they’re reasonable in price.

What is your sketchbook’s story?

My sketchbooks are little laboratories. I experiment in them and for that reason they often seem all over the place. I like to try new things and sometimes have a creative urge to try something specific so my books become a collection of all kinds of craziness, doodles and failures. If you were flipping through my books you’d likely wonder if they belong to only one artist because there seems to be a multiple-personality-disorder thing going on in them…I’ve been thinking a lot about style lately and it has become apparent to me that I lack a signature so I have been going back and finding what worked for me and what didn’t…Anyway, my book’s story is “Experimentation”.

What kind of media do you use in your sketchbook?

Everything! Sometimes I start with pencil or pen and sometimes I start with paint or watercolour….it all depends on my mood. Then there are days when I want to shred paper and get crazy with glue. When I am doing idea generation for a specific project I start by writing…words paint pictures for me so writing descriptively really helps.

Where do you like to work in your sketchbook?

Ha! Everywhere!…but mostly in my studio, or at our dining table. I love to doodle at coffee shops too…I always end up with interesting pages when I do!

What is the biggest inspiration for your work?

I like lines and am really drawn to the “skeleton” of objects. I love that you can simplify a person or a building or an animal etc. into a series of lines. I really enjoy patterns and the way these “skeletons” behave when you overlap them so I have been drawing this way for a while…with lots of lines and overlapping lines.

Thank you so much, Kinga!  All photos are by Kinga, make sure you check out her blog!