YES! If you want to paint more often I believe buying a watercolor sketchbook (sometimes the paper inside is called mixed media paper) and recording your ideas, concepts, inspirations, sqiggles, doodles, scratch marks and scraps of pictures may help you.

WHY? Because: the sketchbook is cheaper than watercolor paper, it can be grabbed at a moments notice, you can close the sketchbook if you don’t want anyone to see your work, the paper is easy to tear out, bla, bla, bla, all these things will help lesson your nervousness and perfectionism.

I got an email from Cheapjoes.com today and he has my favorite Aquabee Sketchbooks on sale in many sizes. I don’t get anything from Cheapjoe for talking about his products, it just happens he has a sale on my favorite sketchbooks. I took an Aquabee Sketchbook to Italy on my first teaching trip in Cortona, about 12 years ago!

I like this watercolor sketchbook keeping so much that I am going to be teaching a class about it at Miracosta College in Encinitas July 14- August 18 from 9 am to noon. Another reason I like using a sketchbook is that it encourages practice painting and drawing but “keeping a watercolor sketchbook” sounds alot more fun than “doing your art class homework in a sketchbbok.”