I was thumbing through my sketchbook the other day, and realized it was a journal of sorts. Sure, it contains my ideas and thoughts for new projects...
but I discovered, looking backward through the years, it's also where I put my instructions...
recipes for my dyes...
random drawings and doodles...
information about other artists, I didn't want to forget, or needed to scratch down for one purpose or another...
to-do lists,
grocery lists,
and a history of my children's drawings...
Kid art that inspired me...
Any sketchbook I have on my shelf from years prior, I have my children's drawings archived in the back of my books. It was a survival tactic. I needed to work, and they needed to be occupied. So, I opened the back of my book and let them draw from the last page towards the first. Somewhere we met in the middle and I would start a new book. I even wrote about this phenomenon in one of my sketch books.
In the end, it's not just a place I keep my ideas. It's my life's journal. What's in your sketch book?