When there are so many excellent sketchbooks on the market, you may wonder why I prefer to make my own sketchbooks, especially for travel painting.

I discovered that a small medium size sketchbook is best to take on a trip because its small enough to fit in your day bag, it does't hog all thevroom in your suitcase and its small enough to place on the airplane tray table and a restaurant table.

I love the smallest Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, but I discovered if I took it on a trip, I had to bring a bigger sketchbook as well. Also, when I got home I realized I didn't have a ordered story from my trip. I had pieces spread in two places and it was confusing.

My most important reason for making my sketchbook is so I can customize it to fit my needs. I fill it with my favorite papers, envelopes to hold my instructional materials and ephemera I find along the way.

As you can see from my photos, my sketchbook cover is a vintage recycled book jacket. I amuse myself all year looking for a book title that fits my destination. I sew the pages in with a not so perfect pamphlet stitch. It's not a difficult process, do you think you might make your own sketchbook sometime?