Introducing Summer’s Sketchbook 2014.

“When you draw, you copy the world don’t you? You remake it on paper, but it isn’t the same. It’s yours.”

– Catherine Fisher

This past Saturday, my lovely mother Janell convinced me to leave the house (not always an easy task when I’m holed up at home) and accompany her an hour and a half away to the Lavender Fields Herb Farm in Glen Allen, Virginia.

While she spent the morning in a gardening class, learning just about everything there is to learn about lavender, I found a shaded spot beneath a wide, leafy tree and began to sketch. Despite the shade, the sun was still hot, my backside swiftly grew sore from the concrete bench, and occasionally a passing customer would pick up and examine the very objects I was attempting to draw – such are the hazards of sketching on-location.

Thankfully, there were a few benefits to outweigh the warm sun and sore bum. My little sketching session on Saturday morning reminded me of just how fun it is to lose yourself in a sketch. To feel yourself slow down and your senses gradually grow more open.

I was also reminded of what happens when you sit quietly in the same spot for hours at a time – people tend to forget you’re there, and life carries on around you as usual. I eavesdropped on listened to the families that moved past me, to a son asking his mother to get some rhubarb and the mother explaining that, “Rhubarb’s not an herb, Simon.”

And it was at some point between first putting pencil to paper and adding the final wash of blue to the pots of sweet basil that I realized:

It’s officially time to kick off our second annual Summer’s Sketchbook.

You might remember last summer’s brilliant round-up – it featured eight artists from around the world, and the range of home countries represented (from the Netherlands to the Philippines to Singapore) beautifully mirrored the variety of styles and mediums and subjects of their sketches. We all see the world differently, through our own unique lenses and points of view, and the round-up seemed to be perfect, tangible proof of that.

If the inaugural Summer’s Sketchbook was any indication of what’s to come this year, I couldn’t be more excited to see the sketches that unfold over the new few months. This summer, however, I’m setting us a new challenge – what if we double the number of artists? I’ve got a good feeling we can make this happen. Sixteen artists. Sixteen sketchbooks. One fantastic round-up of summer sketches.

Sounds pretty doable, right? Here’s how it works:

• Send through your sketches (be it one, two, or a whole sketchbook’s worth) to [email protected] by Friday, the 29th of August.
• The second annual Serendipity’s Sketchbook will go live the following Monday, the 1st of September. I just hope the world will be ready for so much sketching awesomeness at once.
• PS – I’m grateful this site is blessed with several friends in the Southern Hemisphere…while it may not technically be summer for you at the moment, I do hope you’ll still take part!

Whether a sketch was done with only pen or full color, whether it was drawn on-location or sketched later from photos, there’s no right or wrong way to do a sketch. It’s simply about taking a bit of time out to slow down, open up our senses, and connect visually with the world – and I can’t wait for this year’s Summer’s Sketchbook to show that again.

Thanks in advance for sending in your summer sketches!