The Sketchbook Project - What I've learned

Many Months ago I wrote a post on the Sketchbook Project. I was very excited when I found out about the project. I chose my theme of "Facing Forward" and my enthusiasm spread to many of my friends in my creative community. We all jumped on board and started sketching......well sort of....You see the deadline to send in the sketchbook is approaching. It needs to be postmarked by Jan 15th. I'm going to be very honest with you here....I finished 2 pages in 2010 and there is a whole lot of pages.

It was a struggle for me. I'm a perfectionist. The jewelry that I make has to be just right before I send it out my studio door. I doodle, I sketch, I make a thousand mistakes but no one sees those. As an extra kick in the pants I was asked to blog about my sketchbook process on the Doodleheads blog. I did one post about my fear of just letting go and starting the sketchbook. Then I let go...........or so I thought. I sketched two pages and then the little book stared at me for months and months. I continued to sketch in other books, but not my sketchbook project book.

2011 hit, I had 15 days to finish about.........60 pages. I called my good friend Simone Richmond and told her I didn't know if I could do it. She gave me a pep talk, told me I could do it and that I could also glue some of the pages together so there would be fewer pages.....both brilliant pieces of advice.

So, Jan 3rd I sat down in front of my sketchbook and I didn't stop until It was finished. I sketched, I glued, I used my fun new Japanese masking tape, I got creative and let go. The results.......well........It is not perfect, far far from it. Some pages I like, others I cringe at, but I reached my goal and I'm mailing it back to them this week.

By the end of the book I had learned something really valuable. In my sketchbook quest of "facing forward" and trying to answer the question "Can you face forward while being self reflective at the same time?" I realized something big. On the very last page of the book I wrote this:

Be Today.
Call someone and tell them you love them today.
Get out of self reflection,
Move beyond facing forward
and
Be content;
where you are,

who you are,
because you are.
xoxo pkk