Stefanie Trow is an artist living and working in Manchester, who works in a variety of different sized sketchbooks, with up to five on the go at any one time. Here, she discusses how experimenting with materials, and making a daily habit of her sketchbook practice, helps to uncover new ideas for her paintings.
Stefanie Trow Takes Us Through Her Sketchbook Practice
I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to sketchbooks, I have about five on the go now, all small, each with different coloured covers. I know what is in each of them, but I’m not logical with my sketchbooks. I jump around from different sketchbook to sketchbook; mostly whichever one is at hand. I have tried to be methodical in the past, but it does not suit my personality or style. I try not to impose any rules in my sketchbooks, using them as an ideas bank, where anything goes. When I’m starting a new collection of paintings, I will look back at my most recent sketches, to see if there is a theme developing or similarity with what observations have drawn me in, which I can use to move my work forward.
I have several distinct size sketchbooks on the go, but in general they’re small and I tend to use the same size Royal Talens Art Creation Hardback 12 x 12 cm Sketchbook, because it’s very portable. This is particularly important to me as I use my sketchbooks daily, so they need to be with me all the time. They are the first place I go to to draw out an idea or capture a moment of my day that would make a great subject for a painting, so I always need them at hand. They must be small enough to pop in my day bag, my suitcase on holidays, holding them whilst going for a walk, or sit in the sun (not that often of late in Manchester).
The sketchbooks that I use have thick gsm pages, which allows me to use a variety of mixed mediums, especially paints. I use my sketchbooks as a testing ground for mixing different mediums. My art is very process driven and experimenting with different mediums is key. This is where my sketchbook comes into its own, as it is a place that is not often seen by other people, and there’s not really expectation from myself on what need to be produced or how a final piece should work out. It is a place to experiment, play, and be free with mediums, marks, and compositions. When I work in them, I try to think of them as diary entries, little notes to myself that are not going to be seen by anyone else. Some pages you will find filled with little notes, quotes or song lyrics that have caught my attention, which all feed into my work.
When I’m out with my sketchbook its mostly pen and pencil that I use, as they’re easy to carry in a pencil case whilst I’m on the move. When I’m back at the studio, I sometimes work over these quick sketches or enlarge them onto separate pieces of paper to then experiment with different medium such as inks, acrylic, pastels, pencil, charcoal, and collage.
I love to use inks now for their free-flowing nature. I like to think of inks as acting like a memory, blooming, seeping and morphing past its intended edges and taking on a life of its own. Working in ink I have found they act like a springboard into my imagination, like a Rorschach test, where I interpret the inkblots, looking for clues or suggestions of where to take the work next. I do not like predictability in my work, and working with varied materials takes away an element of control which I embrace. I work with collage in a comparable way, cutting and completely reassembling the image is sometimes the way forward, so the image does not become too contrived and encourages spontaneity.
I refer to my sketchbooks daily and they have become a habit in my practice now. In the past I worked just from photographs, but I felt constraint working this way, getting bogged down in details, ending up trying to replicate the photograph. By using drawings as a reference for my paintings, it has opened a wide range of compositions and ideas.
I see my sketchbook work as an idea catcher, a record of a moment, and a way to test different mediums. From my sketchbook pages, I select the ideas which resonate with me, ones I have a deep emotional connection too and that I think would work as a larger painting. I make second sketches on larger pieces of paper, working out the final composition and these second sketches often become the blueprint for larger paintings on canvas.
Sketchbooks allow me to be creative with my compositions and my mark making, which then translates into my paintings. Without my sketchbooks I do not feel like my painting practice would have grown like it has. And without these fleeting glimpses sketched out so quickly in my sketchbooks, I would not have a bank of ideas to then move forward with. So really drawing is crucial to my practice, even though it might not be the result you see in my final exhibited works. Drawing has become meditative, and drawing from life, photographs, memory, stills from films and archival images draws my focus into the essence of the everyday.
My advice to other artists would be to get a sketchbook you do not feel precious about, do not splash out on one with fancy crisp white paper, you will become scared to work in it and you will want all your drawings to be perfect, and that’s definitely not what a sketchbook is for. It was Maggi Hambling that said drawing to her is like a pianist doing the scales, and that is how I treat drawing in my sketchbooks. Use your sketchbooks as a warmup, which means it is not going to be perfect and do not expect it to be.
Do not be afraid to get messy and try out different mediums and ideas that seem a bit off the scale or out of keeping with your normal work. You never know where these experiments might lead you. Get a sketchbook that is portable, again, if its too big, you just will not take it anywhere or use it. Remember it is important to keep your drawing and ideas flowing into your sketchbook.
Reflect on your sketchbook weekly or monthly and see if you can see any recurring themes in your mark making, narratives or colour. There might be something in your most recent drawings that needs exploring further. Or the next step in your work may just looking back at you, but you might not have become aware of it yet.
Materials Used
Royal Talens Art Creation Hardback 12 x 12 cm Sketchbook in Red
Royal Talens Art Creation Hardback 12 x 12 cm Sketchbook in White
Royal Talens Art Creation Hardback 12 x 12 cm Sketchbook in Black
Collage
About Stefanie Trow
I am a British painter, born 1982 in South Yorkshire, UK. After graduating from Salford University in 2004 with a degree in Visual Arts, I now live and work in Manchester, UK with my wife and two children.
Driven by a fascination of the natural world and human experience, I explore these themes through the act and process of painting. Often using my own connections with the landscape and my immediate surroundings, I seek out moments where nature meets human activity, creating paintings which are often large, textural works in Kodachrome tones. Drawing from theories and the visual language of magical realism, Les Nabis and abstract expressionism, I elevate colour over detail and embrace thick impasto brushstrokes balanced alongside delicate washes of colour.
Recent exhibition highlights include public solo show Walk with You at Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, and past solo shows at Comme Ca Art, Dez Rez Projects, and Cass Art, Manchester. I have exhibited in two person shows at Albemarle Gallery, London, and selected in group shows at Saul Hay Gallery and Contemporary Six (Manchester).
Most recently I have been longlisted for the Jackson Art Prize, ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, and elected as an associate member of MAFA. In 2021 I was selected to participate in STUDIOBOOK by Mark Devereux Projects.
Further Reading
Inside the Sketchbook of Louise Reynolds
How to Prepare for Your First Life Drawing Class
Review of Jackson’s Indian Ink
Three Plein Air Artists Test Jackson’s Professional Oil Paints
Shop Sketchbooks on jacksonsart.com
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