A sketchbook will give you a place to store and review your thoughts

(reason #5 to keep a sketchbook)

For any of you reading this who might be Harry Potter fans: do you remember the Pensieve? It was a magical item used to store and review memories, and when a wizard had too many thoughts in their head they could siphon them off with their wand, store them in the Pensieve, and then return to them at leisure or share them with others. At times being able to have space and perspective from the overcrowding and noise inside their head would give them the ability to notice details that they hadn't at first.

I remember reading Harry Potter about the same time that I began my sketchbook practice, in 1999, and realizing that this is exactly what drawing and writing in my sketchbook felt like at times - being able to quiet my thoughts when they got noisy or chaotic, to take what was inside my overcrowded brain, and write it down, or draw it - the visual and text parts of my sketchbook were always interconnected.

a sketchbook spread from 2009, when I was travelling and reading the last Harry Potter book

The magical effect my Pensieve/sketchbook had was almost immediate - about 10 minutes after I began to sketch or write, my head would clear and I'd be able to tell the difference between what was a real problem and what just felt like one as a result of the mental noise. Sometimes I'd be more likely to find a solution as well, but sometimes no solution was necessary - I just needed a chance to sort and store my thoughts. Occasionally I would go back to a page at a later time, and have a chance to examine the memory from a distance, noticing new things about it now that I wasn't caught up in the moment. I don't reread my journal entries frequently, but I do pick up the sketchbooks and look at the drawings, which can transport me to any part of my life that I want to travel to, and check in with that version of myself.

and here's the entire sketchbook, for when I want to revisit the version of myself from 2009

One of the reasons I've spent so much time with my sketchbook is that I truly believe it's a magical object which changes the lives of those who have one - it allows us to time travel, serves as a repository for excess thoughts, can serve as a sanctuary, a laboratory, or a grimoire depending on what we need at the moment. Each page is just paper and pen or pencil or maybe a bit of color, but the book itself is infinitely more than the sum of its parts.

For anyone who wants to begin their own sketchbook, I made a free guide with tips and advice - you can download it here:

I also host a free lecture series of artist talks with some of my favorite sketchbook artists - they show their sketchbooks through the years, talk about their practice and answer questions from the audience. You can attend the next live talk or watch and listen to the recorded lectures here: