Thanks Becky. I received a beautiful Etchr sketchbook for Christmas and I’m still patting it every day, it’s soo beautiful. Im busy filling up my old sketchbooks, I love them too. Your ideas have inspired me, I love your use of metallic paint. I’m almost ready to begin my new sketchbook now thanks to you 💝😊😊
Such a sparkly page for a sparkly new year. I like what another You Tuber said, which is that while doing art the most important things are to (1) show up; (2) be creative; (3) enjoy the process. I think you did all three and made a beautiful page. Here's to 100 more!
Love the start of your new sketchbook….. now think I might have to start one too. Glad you took your own advice and didn’t stop, rip out the page, etc. off to open a sketchbook and considering how to start it. Yes to a little more kindness in the world 💖💖💖💖💖
Oh Becky - how delightful! You have no idea how much I needed this bolt of inspiration - and what a genius “save” from what you thought was a disaster. You are a wonderful teacher and a lovely spirit. Happy New Year from your Canadian friend!
Love the way how you tied it all up together and ended up with gorgeous two pages spread. Santa gave me whole set of sparkling paints and I wil try to use the the way you did. Thank you!
Just be your self. I learn more from your less amazing pieces than the perfect ones. This is such a good idea to get sketching, because most of mine I don't think I would ever show someone let alone show on youtube.
It turned out so lovely, those paints are absolutely gorgeous! I can't wait to see your future videos with this sketchbook, this first one was so much fun ☺
Becky, I enjoyed this so much. Thank you for your honesty and charm! You have inspired me to stop expecting perfection at first try and to get back to enjoying the process.
Hi Becky. I have filled two of these sketchbooks and just started my third one last week. I joined a daily drawing group on instagram and draw everyday. I love these books so much and I bet you will too. All the best to you in 2025😉
Wow, that's impressive, especially given how many pages are in a single book! The paper seems to be getting better and better as I try out more things, so I'm very happy about that!
So nice to start a new sketchbook! Next week, my daughter is going to gift me one. On the first page, I’ve gotten used to always doing the same thing. I draw and paint all the art supplies I plan to use in that sketchbook, but I create them using the same material. For example, I draw an oil pastel stick and paint it with oil pastels, I paint a watercolor tube and color it with watercolor, and so on with everything. Not only do I not have to think about what to do on this first page since I always paint the same thing, but I also get to test if the paper is good or not for each medium.
That's definitely a great and sensible idea! I often sketch my supplies in travel books when I know exactly what I plan to use - for this one I have no idea so of course I had to pick a more complicated title page instead, lol. I hope you enjoy your new sketchbook when you receive it! 😊
Look at you in your pretty pink dress and here I am wrapped up like a mummy because it's -6 outside!! And I have serious FOMO over that sketchbook too!!! Loved your artwork in this the colours were amazing and the shiny, love it! Here's to a fantastic 2025 watching you fill this book, my first painting of this new year is a hobbit hole!! Not quite finished but I'm really loving it so far :D
A hobbit hole sounds like a cozy painting for winter! We're in the middle of a heatwave right now, 30+ almost every day this week. Last weekend was 40 - it was soooo hot! Too hot for my liking. 🌞
I am so excited to get started. I love your first page. Beautiful. My plan is to follow you mostly. Try new things and use what I already own. Thank you for this fun and challenging idea. Looking forward to spending as much time as you can share. Thank you!!!!
Thank you, I'm so glad you're joining me! 😊 Next time I'll be trying out some new art supplies in the book - look for that in a couple of weeks' time! 😊
Magpies! Assemble! 🎶 ✨ I love that page spread so much! It's so shiny and fun 🎇 I'm glad you didn't buy a new sketchbook and hid that one away 😄would have been such a shame. Also, if this hadn't worked out, you could have always used collage or acrylic paint to paint over it 😃 But I totally get it, our inner critic always finds the exact words we really don't need in our lives. So, let's just find a room where we can all lock our inner critics up in together, and there they can insult each other as much as their hearts desire 😆 Thanks for the encouragement to not despair over a piece of paper, Becky ❤
Inner critics need to be locked up, with the key thrown away! 😂I figured if I bought a new book, then were was I going to store this one....I'm running out of room! Plus the price had gone up. Many reasons to not be silly and buy a new one there! I'm glad I persevered!
Hi Becky! Love your first pages. I'll be very interested to see how your sketchbook holds up over time. It's a good price so it's gone on my Shopping list. Having finished swatching all my watercolours into my Etchr sketchbook, I'm now making tags so I can sort everything into colour order. I've just bought a popular Abstract Watercolour book, so I might start some of the exercises in my small Baohong CP book. However I do like working on the block, so I'm not sure yet what I'll do. Great to see you back in 2025. Thanks, as always for sharing. Cheers.
I'll definitely need to fill some more pages before I give a full verdict on the quality of the paper! The markers freaked me out a bit, lol. But watercolours seem to be great, so I'll experiment some more in future pages. 😄
Happy new year Becky, I thought it looked like a geode before you said it. The clinic where I have my injections in my eyes have asked me to do a poster of an eye with the names of the medication they inject into the eye, I said " yeah sure" oh my the STRESS!!!! The thought of it being on the wall and hearing negative comments have freaked me out!!! Done 2 threw them away and the 3rd looked awful, I then decided to just do it and not worry about it which have helped, it's comming along and I feel better about it but would never do it again lol
Oh that really DOES sound stressful! Commissioned art always feels like so much pressure. I'm glad you've stuck with it; I'm sure your finished artwork will be wonderful! ❤
I appreciate your words of encouragement. My art isn't so great but I always really like it :) It's me ! My first page in a new sketchbook is a self portrait with turtles - I am a turtle.... I start a new sketchbook once every quarter; I work (journal and art) in a Midori (mine is old enough to be a real Midori) Traveler's Journal. We do love you Becky
I'm so happy you love your art - that's often the hardest thing to do (sometimes I look at what I've made and think "ewwww!!" 😂). I love your ideas, have fun with your sketching! Traveler's Journals are great!
Lovely beginning of a new sketchbook. Dude, I would die to get my hands on an actual geode looking like that!! Much love from California, from where I’m watching you in your breezy summer dress, me all bundled up in cozy sweatpants and hoodie 😊
@@BeckyTregear dear Becky, I live in Northern California, far from the fires, thank you for kindly asking. But prayers and lots of help go out to our fellow Californians struck by this horrific tragedy.
You just gave me a good idea haha! I got a pencil case full of geometric stencils for Christmas, and I have had other stencils for years, loose and they always get struck on things when I pull something out of my shelf. Now they live in the new pencil case too and maybe I will actually use them now too. I friend of mine Creative Paula has great sketchbook videos, that I think you might like and get inspiration from. She does a lot of more random things and not necessarily sketching. Gesso the back and you can reuse it :)
I love having stencils in a case - it keeps them all together because I always lose them otherwise, or they get damaged easily. I watch Creative Paula's videos too - she always has fun ideas....I love her living room mock-ups. I'm so tempted to steal that idea!!! 😂
Hi Becky - I have a few of those books, and one A4 as well. I start with my initials which are JL which is graphically a nice shape. And with words like junk and january and such I can use the J in different ways. Never words (yet). I do rip out mistakes or things I hate. It bothers me. But I am going to work on this along with your inspiration. No real plans but going to stick to the one book. I also fill in my hand made art books but no journaling anymore. Just painting. ... Looking forward to see what you come up with. Warmest. Ah that plastic sheet is great. I use it on every page.
JL definitely make great initials! Mine are either RT or BT depending on if I'm going by Becky, and T is always a difficult letter so I'm just going to have full words lol! Painting and collaging over dud pages is usually what I do these days.
Great start to the new sketchbook Becky! I have just ordered the same sketchbook as you and am waiting for it to come. I will catch up as soon as it arrives., and will follow the sketchbook journey together! I love your channel and look forward to learning along with you! ❤️
It'll be easy to catch up because I'm slow in releasing new videos, haha! The next one I think will be the weekend after next so there's plenty of time. 😂
Good for you in getting past your frustrations! I really think art is about 90% problem solving. This turned out really well. I never do a title page because it makes things too precious for me. I have sketchbooks that are more of an artbook tho, usually themed. But I do use other sketchbooks to develop pieces for the themed sketchbooks. haha... I used to work on canvases and cradle boards, but I no longer sell anything, but I do make donations every now and again. I switched to almost exclusively sketchbooks awhile back because one can only store so many canvases. And then there are the sketchbooks I have for sheer experimentation. Yeah, I do have a LOT of sketchbooks going at once...haha Oh - collage is perfect for covering up those alcohol marker bleed through.
Thank you - a collage is a really great idea for that bleed through page! I don't often use canvases either, purely for the issue of space - they're so hard to store! Books fit a lot more easily on a shelf, haha. I always feel like I need a title page, which I think has been ingrained in me since primary school, where every exercise book we had, had to have a title page. It was my favourite thing to do and that's always stuck with me, lol.
Hi Becky! First of all, apologies for not adding to my reply on that blog video. I am hoping to do a catch-up with several comments soon.... This has been a great video for a 'first page spread', with all your emotions honestly expressed as you worked through them. Thank you!!! As others have already commented, it's much more helpful to see the honest truth than the 'perfected' stuff we are presented with these days. Back in the day, when I was going to workshops and demos of the then famous artists, I learned far more from watching the development of the painting from beginning promises, through the ugly, the awful mess to sorting it out and making a lovely end product than I do from carefully edited ArtTube 'perfect' nowadays. It's a major reason that I've dropped so many artists from my list and am happy wth the small number of you who are not afraid to be yourselves! New sketchbook? Yup! I finally closed the covers on the Hanamuhle monster just after Christmas. There are a few unfinished pages, and pages with fillable spaces left, but there's something on every page, so that's ok... The 'new' sketchbook is one I 'began' back in July, with the so much better original patchwork (ie not the one from the Sketchbok challenge), but then put it aside. I've done a couple of things in the new one, a Seawhite of Brighton A5. However, the quality and paper texture don't seem to be the same as those I used a few years ago, so I'm now stumped about what to do with it or what to use instead! It's 'Cold Pressed' but too textured for graphite and coloured pencil. I think I'll make my own again - I have plenty of decent paper. Like you, I'm determined to have joy and fun with my art again after the slog of that huge Christmas project (only a slog because of the deadline change and other issues, not the actual project!, which even now, I'd do again if ever I changed churches! The two I've done since Christmas in the Seawhite were for fun as well as test pieces - I managed to sort-of save one, after the blip, and though the other is messy, I can still smile at the original idea and not (as I intended) take out the page... Eek!!!! This is sooo long!!!!! That's what happens when I have a back-log of unwritten comments!!!!! If it photographs ok (hey, we have sunshine forecast for next week! 😄) I'll send you that original patchwork swatch page 'à la Becky' and the one I managed to sort-of rescue. So again, thank you for being 'you' and for giving us a good role model to follow! 🤗Hope 2025 is a calmer and peace-fuller one (think I just made up that hyphonated word!) than 2024. Hugs for each of you! 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 Time I was in bed (12.30am here!), Happy Saturday, Becky! 🛌🛌🛌🛌🛌 ZZZzzzzzzzzz.......
Thank you! I know how it is to get busy and not be able to reply to or write messages online. The internet in itself can be a real time drain! Here's to new sketchbooks, and figuring out what to do with the ones that don't play nicely. I'm still stuck with the expensive Hahnemuhle one, but I'm working my way through it slowly, haha! 😂
@@BeckyTregear Thanks for understanding! I do feel I've let my friends (and myself) down (ie the small group I think of as friends rather than everyone's videos) when I don't make a comment. Vee is a case in point - she noticed that several of the folk she felt close to had disappeared and she felt abandonned, till she finally had time and courage to check her emails and saw all the love being poured out to her. But yes, the second half of last year and the start of this have been weird, one way and another. As for the Hahnemuhle, maybe fill it as a journal rather than a sketchook? Then you might use smaller art work to illustrate it? And / or for thumbnail ideas / doodles / scribbles? Have it at hand for times when otherwise you'd reach for scrap paper? Better that than struggle to do full art work and get fed up with yourself, when it's the paper that's the problem. I'm thinking I may do that with the Seawhite (A5 & A6), as I've done with a couple of other sketchbooks. It's worked well with those, as it's really good to look back at them and see my thought processes and giggle at the 'silly' doodles.... Meanwhile, congratulations on working through your 'wake-up' call! Keep at it, even when it seems almost impossible to keep it up (as it will sometimes), cos Becky, you're worth it!!! 🫂
Happy New Year Becky. 🎉💫🎊 Lovely outcome on your title page. Fabulous!😊 I’m going to love this series. I’m planning to take inspiration from you and get the same sketchbook for a follow along. Also can’t help myself and will be buying the stencils. Cheers.
Woohoo! I'm so glad you're joining me! 😊 Sorry for being a bad influencer, haha! But honestly those stencils have been working out really great - the lined ones save heaps of time and give nicely even spacing which I struggle with doing just using a ruler. I hope they come in handy for you too!
I really don't understand why a person would take any time of their day to give a negative comment on content that they get for free. They must be sad people with nothing better to do than put someone down to make themselves feel better for a minute. Just ignore them. Hope 2025 is a great creatively satisfying year for you.
I just delete them and move on - and yes I think it says more about them than it does me. I don't mind actual critiques, but stuff about things I can't change (like my voice, appearance etc) just go straight in the bin, lol!
Hello Becky and all! I also started a new sketch book, i bought the Khadi fat book (because affordable) so i could make "messy" artwork. I tend to get precious with my sketchbooks, and i keep myself from making spontanious art so that i dont mess up my beautiful (and expensive) books, ugh! So the first pages of my new sketchbook are messy and ugly, a reminder that its fun and ok to mess up, and just have fun with pigments! Its great to open a book and play with no expectations. Thanks for another fun vid Becky!
Tip: when you have a page that the media has bled through, the back of the page is not a total loss. Do a mixed media, decoupage, cutouts and ephemera, add pickets, you name it. Never a lost cause!
Finally a fellow Aussie I can watch... Might have to binge watch some of your videos to catch up lol. Love this video. Lots of easy info to follow. Your enthusiasm is contageous. Thanks CJ
Yeah. I have been waiting for this video. Love your page and I definately need those sparkly paints. Which set do you have? Bad start to a low spend 2025. Thank you lovey
Thank you! Looking at Chelsea Venz's website, that sparkly set I have is the 2024 Public Collaboration Watercolour Set. Nick bought it for me when we were in Hahndorf, SA (The Paint Box shop)and it was in the $60 range there - on the website it's showing as $120!!! 😱
Love to see you again Happy new year 2025. Love your video .....hahahah new sketch book . . I am bad ..I tear pages out if they got wrong and I don't love it. Pease don’t stress …..spackle paints save everything xxxxxxx I've got my Copic head on and brought X-Press Paper ....for my ciao's and Stillman and Bir book sorry your having a tough time with your makers hahahah Happy swatching love it hahahah Happy swatching xxxxxx
I used to get stage fright when starting a new sketchbook but now I start all my sketchbooks with supply tests, swatches and doodles. Doing this has multiple benefits. I don’t have to worry about doing a perfect sketch on my first page or messing it up in some way and I get to see how all my art supplies work with that paper. After that anything that I do in my sketchbook will be an improvement right 😂
@@zenlife1200 That sounds like a great idea, doing swatches on that first page! My second page has that sort of thing going on....it's a right old mess! 🤣
@ You don’t have to even leave room really. You can add that later by writing on a semi sheer vellum and attach at the top. It’s a fun ways to add an elegant insert. I’d even go as far as cutting the edges of the vellum with deckle sheers.
I’m so glad yt recommended something good for once ! New subscriber here and I can’t wait to see what you do ❤ I’m not a perfect artist. No one is. I put down my brushes and pens for years because of perfectionism. If I couldn’t do something perfectly I didn’t want to do it. I’ve learnt now that I’ve missed so much and forgotten so much ( tbi ) so I just need to do it. It doesn’t have to be good - just fun, therapeutic or purely to document my journey. I can’t wait to follow yours. Please don’t try and be perfect. Just do what you’d do if we weren’t watching.
Welcome to my channel, and thank you so much for your encouraging words! I'm usually a lot more laid back but the pressure of the new sketchbook got to me.....I'll relax into it now that I've messed up a couple of pages (using the next spread for testing supplies so lots of scribbles etc). ❤
Hi Becky! I love your originality, that was a fascinating idea! I did start my sketchbook and put in a title page. Just something very simple. I"m using Ohuhu's alchohol marker sketchbook. I can't promise I'll be able to follow along, but I am with you in spirit. Then I realized I misspelled sketchbook and will have to do it again LOL. The struggle is real.
Simple is good too! I love starting with a title page. How is their marker book? I did consider that one but figured it probably wouldn't hold up to watercoluor. I expect it is a whole lot better for markers though! 😂 I've misspelled sketchbook in the past too....once I wrote it as scetchbook....on the title page!! 🙈
Hi Becky, I bought the Ohuhu sketchbook but in a larger size. Oops. I will paint in it this weekend. I think you did an awesome job with your first pages! It is nice when art that seems bad at first turns out great. Take care.
There's a larger one? 😱 I guess that means more room for art, haha! Have fun painting in it - I've been testing out some other pens and things and the paper is holding up very well.
I'm not super experienced with mixed media paper, but another book I've been using which has a smooth paper that holds just about everything is a Talens Art Creation. They have a range of paper colours from ivory to plain white, and they're quite cheap but are surprisingly great when it comes to most art supplies! Paint pens, markers, watercolour, gouache...you name it!
Love this! Can't wait to see the continuation of this series ❤ I was going to pull out my one of the same book but I probably should finish the almost half done one first. I've marked where I should be up to each month to get it finished by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes 😆 Randomly, I've sharpened scissors by folding up some aluminium foil and cutting it with the scissors. I'm still surprised that it works!
I might try the foil trick with these scissors. Sometimes they just simply wear out though - I have many scissors so it's not the end of the world, but I tend to reach for the same ones, haha! I have a number of unfinished sketchbooks, I'm trying to work in them all but it's a bit chaotic! 😂
Yes they definitely do wear out eventually. I've somehow still got the same scissors I started high school with in 2004 and I've not needed to sharpen them which is wild. I hate buying new scissors as you often need scissors to open the pack of new scissors 🙄
Mixed media paper will not be smooth because its been designed to hold paint and ink etc, that's why it has "tooth". You would have been better using paper designed for markers.
I have another "mixed media" book which is super smooth but ironically doesn't like very many mediums, lol! So actually this paper is working out well now that I've tried other pens and whatnot in it - alcohol markers are just a bit too much for the paper in that they get soaked up too quickly. Never mind, I've got loads of other stuff to put in the book! 😄 I did consider their marker version of the book, but knew it wouldn't hold watercolour. Ahhhh the quandry!
"Perfection is the death of creativity!" Thanks for reminding me, I have been super frustrated with my art lately!
@@artandmusic09 It can be so frustrating, especially when you have something in your brain that just won't translate onto paper!
Ugh me too. And I’ve given myself creative paralysis feeling so inadequate!
🤗
@@Julie-vy3oz 🤗
I love your honesty and authenticity and also the way you tell “your stories”. Your pictures always turn out great! Happy 2025!
Thank you - haha yes they do end up being stories don't they! Such a load of drama over the most mundane things....😂Happy New Year!
Super shiny! Loved how your pages turned out!
Thank you, I'm happy with it....now! 😂
Thanks Becky. I received a beautiful Etchr sketchbook for Christmas and I’m still patting it every day, it’s soo beautiful. Im busy
filling up my old sketchbooks, I love them too. Your ideas have inspired me, I love your use of metallic paint. I’m almost ready to begin my new sketchbook now thanks to you 💝😊😊
It's so exciting to have a brand new sketchbook, in wonderful pristine condition! I'm glad you're having fun filling your books. 😊
Such a sparkly page for a sparkly new year. I like what another You Tuber said, which is that while doing art the most important things are to (1) show up; (2) be creative; (3) enjoy the process. I think you did all three and made a beautiful page. Here's to 100 more!
Thank you, and that is so true - showing up is half the battle! ❤
That spread came out amazing! Thx for not giving up! ❤❤❤
@@veystone2580 Thank you 😊
Love the start of your new sketchbook….. now think I might have to start one too. Glad you took your own advice and didn’t stop, rip out the page, etc. off to open a sketchbook and considering how to start it. Yes to a little more kindness in the world 💖💖💖💖💖
@@carrollwilson5169 Thank you! I try very hard not to rip pages out. If anything I'll paint over it with something opaque. 😁
Oh Becky - how delightful! You have no idea how much I needed this bolt of inspiration - and what a genius “save” from what you thought was a disaster. You are a wonderful teacher and a lovely spirit. Happy New Year from your Canadian friend!
Thank you! Persevering saved me quite a bit of money in not buying a whole new sketchbook, lol! Stay warm over there. 😊
Becky, I'm glad that you took a break, then came back and finished your shiny, beautiful entry pages to your new sketchbook...it looks great!
A break was very much needed on this time, lol! I'm so thankful it worked out. 😂
Love the way how you tied it all up together and ended up with gorgeous two pages spread. Santa gave me whole set of sparkling paints and I wil try to use the the way you did. Thank you!
I'm so happy you received sparkly paints for Christmas - I hope you have fun painting with them! They're always a great way to cheer up a page. 😄
@@BeckyTregear 😄
Just be your self. I learn more from your less amazing pieces than the perfect ones. This is such a good idea to get sketching, because most of mine I don't think I would ever show someone let alone show on youtube.
@@judymcgimpsey787 Haha yes it is quite a challenge to share some of my stuff when I'm looking at it going "what is this mess?". 🤣
I just love your videos! You are so inspiring and upbeat!
It turned out so lovely, those paints are absolutely gorgeous! I can't wait to see your future videos with this sketchbook, this first one was so much fun ☺
Thank you! I feel like I haven't done very much yet so I hope to make better inroads in future videos, more than just the cover page, lol! 😂
Thank you for this video, Becky; it's exactly what I needed to inspire me to drop the idea of perfection and start sketching again. ☺
@@staceystoddard6067 I'm glad it has motivated you! Sketching is fun (except when it isn't, lol!).
Love it Becky! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us ❤
Becky, I enjoyed this so much. Thank you for your honesty and charm! You have inspired me to stop expecting perfection at first try and to get back to enjoying the process.
It's so much easier said than done sometimes! 😂
Hi Becky. I have filled two of these sketchbooks and just started my third one last week. I joined a daily drawing group on instagram and draw everyday. I love these books so much and I bet you will too. All the best to you in 2025😉
Wow, that's impressive, especially given how many pages are in a single book! The paper seems to be getting better and better as I try out more things, so I'm very happy about that!
So nice to start a new sketchbook!
Next week, my daughter is going to gift me one.
On the first page, I’ve gotten used to always doing the same thing. I draw and paint all the art supplies I plan to use in that sketchbook, but I create them using the same material. For example, I draw an oil pastel stick and paint it with oil pastels, I paint a watercolor tube and color it with watercolor, and so on with everything.
Not only do I not have to think about what to do on this first page since I always paint the same thing, but I also get to test if the paper is good or not for each medium.
That's definitely a great and sensible idea! I often sketch my supplies in travel books when I know exactly what I plan to use - for this one I have no idea so of course I had to pick a more complicated title page instead, lol. I hope you enjoy your new sketchbook when you receive it! 😊
@@BeckyTregear Well, it paid off! It came out GREAT!
Who knows maybe I'll be brave like you and do something different on the first page! 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬🤣🤣🤣
It’s gorgeous!😍
Hey Becky! I just got a new sketchbook today too! So I can start one with you! Yay!
@@artandmusic09 Woohoo! 😆
My Blick order with this years sketchbooks just arrived today, so I’ll be joining you in starting a fresh one! ❤
That was great timing! Happy sketchbooking! 😄
I get that same art stage fright. I love that you stuck with it because it turned out well. Thanks for your videos. I really enjoy them. ❤
Art stage fright is exactly it! Just knowing someone is watching makes me all clumsy, lol!
Sparkles!✨💖
Look at you in your pretty pink dress and here I am wrapped up like a mummy because it's -6 outside!! And I have serious FOMO over that sketchbook too!!! Loved your artwork in this the colours were amazing and the shiny, love it! Here's to a fantastic 2025 watching you fill this book, my first painting of this new year is a hobbit hole!! Not quite finished but I'm really loving it so far :D
A hobbit hole sounds like a cozy painting for winter! We're in the middle of a heatwave right now, 30+ almost every day this week. Last weekend was 40 - it was soooo hot! Too hot for my liking. 🌞
I am so excited to get started. I love your first page. Beautiful. My plan is to follow you mostly. Try new things and use what I already own. Thank you for this fun and challenging idea. Looking forward to spending as much time as you can share. Thank you!!!!
Thank you, I'm so glad you're joining me! 😊 Next time I'll be trying out some new art supplies in the book - look for that in a couple of weeks' time! 😊
Magpies! Assemble! 🎶 ✨
I love that page spread so much! It's so shiny and fun 🎇 I'm glad you didn't buy a new sketchbook and hid that one away 😄would have been such a shame. Also, if this hadn't worked out, you could have always used collage or acrylic paint to paint over it 😃 But I totally get it, our inner critic always finds the exact words we really don't need in our lives. So, let's just find a room where we can all lock our inner critics up in together, and there they can insult each other as much as their hearts desire 😆
Thanks for the encouragement to not despair over a piece of paper, Becky ❤
Inner critics need to be locked up, with the key thrown away! 😂I figured if I bought a new book, then were was I going to store this one....I'm running out of room! Plus the price had gone up. Many reasons to not be silly and buy a new one there! I'm glad I persevered!
Hi Becky, this was so much fun to watch, and I love your title page❤. Im really looking forward to seeing what else you create😊
@@tonidallow8105 Thank you! I'll hopefully have the next installment ready for late January. 😊
Hi Becky! Love your first pages. I'll be very interested to see how your sketchbook holds up over time. It's a good price so it's gone on my Shopping list. Having finished swatching all my watercolours into my Etchr sketchbook, I'm now making tags so I can sort everything into colour order. I've just bought a popular Abstract Watercolour book, so I might start some of the exercises in my small Baohong CP book. However I do like working on the block, so I'm not sure yet what I'll do. Great to see you back in 2025. Thanks, as always for sharing. Cheers.
I'll definitely need to fill some more pages before I give a full verdict on the quality of the paper! The markers freaked me out a bit, lol. But watercolours seem to be great, so I'll experiment some more in future pages. 😄
So beautiful! I started my recent sketchbook on the second page...
Great stuff, I hope you're having fun! 😊
I am just about to start a sketchbook. Wish me good luck on my first page. Your first layout is great. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Have fun with it, and you’ve got this! I'm sure it'll be awesome!😊
Happy new year Becky, I thought it looked like a geode before you said it. The clinic where I have my injections in my eyes have asked me to do a poster of an eye with the names of the medication they inject into the eye, I said " yeah sure" oh my the STRESS!!!! The thought of it being on the wall and hearing negative comments have freaked me out!!! Done 2 threw them away and the 3rd looked awful, I then decided to just do it and not worry about it which have helped, it's comming along and I feel better about it but would never do it again lol
Oh that really DOES sound stressful! Commissioned art always feels like so much pressure. I'm glad you've stuck with it; I'm sure your finished artwork will be wonderful! ❤
I appreciate your words of encouragement. My art isn't so great but I always really like it :) It's me ! My first page in a new sketchbook is a self portrait with turtles - I am a turtle.... I start a new sketchbook once every quarter; I work (journal and art) in a Midori (mine is old enough to be a real Midori) Traveler's Journal. We do love you Becky
I'm so happy you love your art - that's often the hardest thing to do (sometimes I look at what I've made and think "ewwww!!" 😂). I love your ideas, have fun with your sketching! Traveler's Journals are great!
Yesterday I got so frustrated with a painting, that I completely ruined it, and I wish now I had just slept on it! But you get tunnel vision!
@@artandmusic09 Oh totally! It's horrible when that happens. 😭
Lovely beginning of a new sketchbook. Dude, I would die to get my hands on an actual geode looking like that!!
Much love from California, from where I’m watching you in your breezy summer dress, me all bundled up in cozy sweatpants and hoodie 😊
@@pastelsgirl I hope you're not anywhere near those terrible fires! I'd love a sparkly geode like that too. 😊
@@BeckyTregear dear Becky, I live in Northern California, far from the fires, thank you for kindly asking. But prayers and lots of help go out to our fellow Californians struck by this horrific tragedy.
You just gave me a good idea haha! I got a pencil case full of geometric stencils for Christmas, and I have had other stencils for years, loose and they always get struck on things when I pull something out of my shelf. Now they live in the new pencil case too and maybe I will actually use them now too.
I friend of mine Creative Paula has great sketchbook videos, that I think you might like and get inspiration from. She does a lot of more random things and not necessarily sketching.
Gesso the back and you can reuse it :)
I love having stencils in a case - it keeps them all together because I always lose them otherwise, or they get damaged easily. I watch Creative Paula's videos too - she always has fun ideas....I love her living room mock-ups. I'm so tempted to steal that idea!!! 😂
@BeckyTregear I'm sure she won't mind.
It turned out so pretty!
@@junbug1029 Thank you! 😊
Love those paints, happy new year Becky 🎉❤
Happy new year!
The paper looks like it held up really welll!
@@artandmusic09 It has, and is nice and flat again once I closed the book and let it sit overnight. I'm confident future wet paint will be fine too. 😊
Hi Becky - I have a few of those books, and one A4 as well. I start with my initials which are JL which is graphically a nice shape. And with words like junk and january and such I can use the J in different ways. Never words (yet). I do rip out mistakes or things I hate. It bothers me. But I am going to work on this along with your inspiration. No real plans but going to stick to the one book. I also fill in my hand made art books but no journaling anymore. Just painting. ... Looking forward to see what you come up with. Warmest. Ah that plastic sheet is great. I use it on every page.
JL definitely make great initials! Mine are either RT or BT depending on if I'm going by Becky, and T is always a difficult letter so I'm just going to have full words lol! Painting and collaging over dud pages is usually what I do these days.
Great start Becky.
I really liked this. I think you're too hard on yourself. It's a great video, Becky. I am looking forward to your videos in 2025 ❤
Aww thanks! I'm always my own worst critic haha! 😂
This is shiny and beautiful great job
@@suzannehulton2571 Thank you! 😊
Great save. your art is always so inspiring!
@@iadenicole931 Thank you! 😊
Love it! 🫶🇦🇺
Great start to the new sketchbook Becky! I have just ordered the same sketchbook as you and am waiting for it to come. I will catch up as soon as it arrives., and will follow the sketchbook journey together! I love your channel and look forward to learning along with you! ❤️
It'll be easy to catch up because I'm slow in releasing new videos, haha! The next one I think will be the weekend after next so there's plenty of time. 😂
Good for you in getting past your frustrations! I really think art is about 90% problem solving. This turned out really well. I never do a title page because it makes things too precious for me. I have sketchbooks that are more of an artbook tho, usually themed. But I do use other sketchbooks to develop pieces for the themed sketchbooks. haha... I used to work on canvases and cradle boards, but I no longer sell anything, but I do make donations every now and again. I switched to almost exclusively sketchbooks awhile back because one can only store so many canvases. And then there are the sketchbooks I have for sheer experimentation. Yeah, I do have a LOT of sketchbooks going at once...haha Oh - collage is perfect for covering up those alcohol marker bleed through.
Thank you - a collage is a really great idea for that bleed through page! I don't often use canvases either, purely for the issue of space - they're so hard to store! Books fit a lot more easily on a shelf, haha. I always feel like I need a title page, which I think has been ingrained in me since primary school, where every exercise book we had, had to have a title page. It was my favourite thing to do and that's always stuck with me, lol.
Hi Becky! First of all, apologies for not adding to my reply on that blog video. I am hoping to do a catch-up with several comments soon....
This has been a great video for a 'first page spread', with all your emotions honestly expressed as you worked through them. Thank you!!! As others have already commented, it's much more helpful to see the honest truth than the 'perfected' stuff we are presented with these days.
Back in the day, when I was going to workshops and demos of the then famous artists, I learned far more from watching the development of the painting from beginning promises, through the ugly, the awful mess to sorting it out and making a lovely end product than I do from carefully edited ArtTube 'perfect' nowadays. It's a major reason that I've dropped so many artists from my list and am happy wth the small number of you who are not afraid to be yourselves!
New sketchbook? Yup! I finally closed the covers on the Hanamuhle monster just after Christmas. There are a few unfinished pages, and pages with fillable spaces left, but there's something on every page, so that's ok...
The 'new' sketchbook is one I 'began' back in July, with the so much better original patchwork (ie not the one from the Sketchbok challenge), but then put it aside. I've done a couple of things in the new one, a Seawhite of Brighton A5. However, the quality and paper texture don't seem to be the same as those I used a few years ago, so I'm now stumped about what to do with it or what to use instead! It's 'Cold Pressed' but too textured for graphite and coloured pencil. I think I'll make my own again - I have plenty of decent paper.
Like you, I'm determined to have joy and fun with my art again after the slog of that huge Christmas project (only a slog because of the deadline change and other issues, not the actual project!, which even now, I'd do again if ever I changed churches!
The two I've done since Christmas in the Seawhite were for fun as well as test pieces - I managed to sort-of save one, after the blip, and though the other is messy, I can still smile at the original idea and not (as I intended) take out the page...
Eek!!!! This is sooo long!!!!! That's what happens when I have a back-log of unwritten comments!!!!! If it photographs ok (hey, we have sunshine forecast for next week! 😄) I'll send you that original patchwork swatch page 'à la Becky' and the one I managed to sort-of rescue.
So again, thank you for being 'you' and for giving us a good role model to follow! 🤗Hope 2025 is a calmer and peace-fuller one (think I just made up that hyphonated word!) than 2024. Hugs for each of you!
🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Time I was in bed (12.30am here!), Happy Saturday, Becky!
🛌🛌🛌🛌🛌 ZZZzzzzzzzzz.......
Thank you! I know how it is to get busy and not be able to reply to or write messages online. The internet in itself can be a real time drain! Here's to new sketchbooks, and figuring out what to do with the ones that don't play nicely. I'm still stuck with the expensive Hahnemuhle one, but I'm working my way through it slowly, haha! 😂
@@BeckyTregear Thanks for understanding! I do feel I've let my friends (and myself) down (ie the small group I think of as friends rather than everyone's videos) when I don't make a comment. Vee is a case in point - she noticed that several of the folk she felt close to had disappeared and she felt abandonned, till she finally had time and courage to check her emails and saw all the love being poured out to her.
But yes, the second half of last year and the start of this have been weird, one way and another.
As for the Hahnemuhle, maybe fill it as a journal rather than a sketchook? Then you might use smaller art work to illustrate it? And / or for thumbnail ideas / doodles / scribbles? Have it at hand for times when otherwise you'd reach for scrap paper? Better that than struggle to do full art work and get fed up with yourself, when it's the paper that's the problem.
I'm thinking I may do that with the Seawhite (A5 & A6), as I've done with a couple of other sketchbooks. It's worked well with those, as it's really good to look back at them and see my thought processes and giggle at the 'silly' doodles....
Meanwhile, congratulations on working through your 'wake-up' call! Keep at it, even when it seems almost impossible to keep it up (as it will sometimes), cos Becky, you're worth it!!! 🫂
Tats a great start. Phew! Happy New Year
It turned out so well 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you, I'm happy with it! Phew, haha!
Great video as always
I find a few mistakes frees me up to go wild because it’s no longer possible to achieve perfection!
Yes, that is so true! Once mistakes are made then there's nothing left to lose, and the real creativity begins!
Looks good at the end. ❤❤❤❤bravissima
Thank you 😊
Love it glad u stuck with it
Thank you, and me too! 😂
I love this Becky!
Thank you for the valuable lesson! The page turnd out gourgeus.
Thank you! 😄
Happy New Year Becky. 🎉💫🎊 Lovely outcome on your title page. Fabulous!😊 I’m going to love this series. I’m planning to take inspiration from you and get the same sketchbook for a follow along. Also can’t help myself and will be buying the stencils. Cheers.
Woohoo! I'm so glad you're joining me! 😊 Sorry for being a bad influencer, haha! But honestly those stencils have been working out really great - the lined ones save heaps of time and give nicely even spacing which I struggle with doing just using a ruler. I hope they come in handy for you too!
Gorgeous.... love the start. I'll try to start one as well.... but not at 2:30 am😅
Haha that's never a good time to start anything! 😂
@BeckyTregear 🤫😂
I have an off brand sketchbook I'm going to try see how it handles watercolour if it works that will be follow along sketchbook this year ❤❤❤❤
Sounds good, let me know how it goes 😊
Imperfect is Perfect!😊
I love that!
I really don't understand why a person would take any time of their day to give a negative comment on content that they get for free. They must be sad people with nothing better to do than put someone down to make themselves feel better for a minute. Just ignore them. Hope 2025 is a great creatively satisfying year for you.
I just delete them and move on - and yes I think it says more about them than it does me. I don't mind actual critiques, but stuff about things I can't change (like my voice, appearance etc) just go straight in the bin, lol!
Turned out great ❤👍🏾
Hello Becky and all! I also started a new sketch book, i bought the Khadi fat book (because affordable) so i could make "messy" artwork. I tend to get precious with my sketchbooks, and i keep myself from making spontanious art so that i dont mess up my beautiful (and expensive) books, ugh! So the first pages of my new sketchbook are messy and ugly, a reminder that its fun and ok to mess up, and just have fun with pigments! Its great to open a book and play with no expectations. Thanks for another fun vid Becky!
I've heard good things about the fat books! Messy pages are what give sketchbooks character - I needed to remind myself of that, lol.
Tip: when you have a page that the media has bled through, the back of the page is not a total loss. Do a mixed media, decoupage, cutouts and ephemera, add pickets, you name it. Never a lost cause!
@@sunnycharacter That's what I'm thinking, a collage of some sort!
@ And it will be fun! It always feels good to use up scraps.
Sooooo inspiring I totally wanna do one with you❤
@@averymorgan1369 There's still plenty of time to start! 😊
Finally a fellow Aussie I can watch... Might have to binge watch some of your videos to catch up lol. Love this video. Lots of easy info to follow. Your enthusiasm is contageous.
Thanks CJ
Thank you! Welcome to my channel and I hope you enjoy my videos! Hopefully I can get this sketchbook series going properly! 😄
Yeah. I have been waiting for this video. Love your page and I definately need those sparkly paints. Which set do you have? Bad start to a low spend 2025. Thank you lovey
Thank you! Looking at Chelsea Venz's website, that sparkly set I have is the 2024 Public Collaboration Watercolour Set. Nick bought it for me when we were in Hahndorf, SA (The Paint Box shop)and it was in the $60 range there - on the website it's showing as $120!!! 😱
Love to see you again Happy new year 2025. Love your video .....hahahah new sketch book . . I am bad ..I tear pages out if they got wrong and I don't love it. Pease don’t stress …..spackle paints save everything xxxxxxx I've got my Copic head on and brought X-Press Paper ....for my ciao's and Stillman and Bir book sorry your having a tough time with your makers hahahah Happy swatching love it hahahah Happy swatching xxxxxx
Have fun with your supplies! I try not to rip out pages these days - everything must stay. 😂
@@BeckyTregear 🤣😂🙂
Wow! This page transformed so beautifully. ❤ It's now a delightful intro page! Love it.
Thank you! It got there eventually, haha!
I used to get stage fright when starting a new sketchbook but now I start all my sketchbooks with supply tests, swatches and doodles. Doing this has multiple benefits. I don’t have to worry about doing a perfect sketch on my first page or messing it up in some way and I get to see how all my art supplies work with that paper. After that anything that I do in my sketchbook will be an improvement right 😂
@@zenlife1200 That sounds like a great idea, doing swatches on that first page! My second page has that sort of thing going on....it's a right old mess! 🤣
Sometimes the saver-ideas lead to more beautiful results than the original idea - the colours are georgeous 🥰
@@3534538 That's so true!
So sparkly. I love it ❤
I always use my first page as a title page with date, name and leave space for description of what’s inside later.
@@sunnycharacter It's a great way to start a book! I didn't really leave anything for description haha!
@ You don’t have to even leave room really. You can add that later by writing on a semi sheer vellum and attach at the top. It’s a fun ways to add an elegant insert. I’d even go as far as cutting the edges of the vellum with deckle sheers.
Also your voice is really relaxing and beautiful. Keep being you !
Thank you so much! 😊
I’m so glad yt recommended something good for once ! New subscriber here and I can’t wait to see what you do ❤
I’m not a perfect artist. No one is. I put down my brushes and pens for years because of perfectionism. If I couldn’t do something perfectly I didn’t want to do it. I’ve learnt now that I’ve missed so much and forgotten so much ( tbi ) so I just need to do it. It doesn’t have to be good - just fun, therapeutic or purely to document my journey. I can’t wait to follow yours. Please don’t try and be perfect. Just do what you’d do if we weren’t watching.
Welcome to my channel, and thank you so much for your encouraging words! I'm usually a lot more laid back but the pressure of the new sketchbook got to me.....I'll relax into it now that I've messed up a couple of pages (using the next spread for testing supplies so lots of scribbles etc). ❤
Hi Becky! I love your originality, that was a fascinating idea! I did start my sketchbook and put in a title page. Just something very simple. I"m using Ohuhu's alchohol marker sketchbook. I can't promise I'll be able to follow along, but I am with you in spirit. Then I realized I misspelled sketchbook and will have to do it again LOL. The struggle is real.
Simple is good too! I love starting with a title page. How is their marker book? I did consider that one but figured it probably wouldn't hold up to watercoluor. I expect it is a whole lot better for markers though! 😂 I've misspelled sketchbook in the past too....once I wrote it as scetchbook....on the title page!! 🙈
Hi Becky, I bought the Ohuhu sketchbook but in a larger size. Oops. I will paint in it this weekend.
I think you did an awesome job with your first pages! It is nice when art that seems bad at first turns out great. Take care.
There's a larger one? 😱 I guess that means more room for art, haha! Have fun painting in it - I've been testing out some other pens and things and the paper is holding up very well.
I am going to use this as inspiration for starting a sketchbook! ❤
@@iSheree Awesome, have fun and happy arting! 😊
Becky, you are so cute. Bless you dear girl
Aww thank you! 😊
Looks awesome ❤. How did the watercolour go with this paper?
@@taniasargeant5496 Watercolour seems fine - I'll need to paint more pages though to get a better idea. 😊
I've been wanting to try this one!! Is there any other paper you can compare it to?
I'm not super experienced with mixed media paper, but another book I've been using which has a smooth paper that holds just about everything is a Talens Art Creation. They have a range of paper colours from ivory to plain white, and they're quite cheap but are surprisingly great when it comes to most art supplies! Paint pens, markers, watercolour, gouache...you name it!
Love this! Can't wait to see the continuation of this series ❤
I was going to pull out my one of the same book but I probably should finish the almost half done one first. I've marked where I should be up to each month to get it finished by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes 😆
Randomly, I've sharpened scissors by folding up some aluminium foil and cutting it with the scissors. I'm still surprised that it works!
I might try the foil trick with these scissors. Sometimes they just simply wear out though - I have many scissors so it's not the end of the world, but I tend to reach for the same ones, haha! I have a number of unfinished sketchbooks, I'm trying to work in them all but it's a bit chaotic! 😂
Yes they definitely do wear out eventually. I've somehow still got the same scissors I started high school with in 2004 and I've not needed to sharpen them which is wild. I hate buying new scissors as you often need scissors to open the pack of new scissors 🙄
❤
Mixed media paper will not be smooth because its been designed to hold paint and ink etc, that's why it has "tooth". You would have been better using paper designed for markers.
I have another "mixed media" book which is super smooth but ironically doesn't like very many mediums, lol! So actually this paper is working out well now that I've tried other pens and whatnot in it - alcohol markers are just a bit too much for the paper in that they get soaked up too quickly. Never mind, I've got loads of other stuff to put in the book! 😄 I did consider their marker version of the book, but knew it wouldn't hold watercolour. Ahhhh the quandry!
It’s gorgeous!😍