Sketchbook Pages: Mini Collages

While in Alberta this May, Pat and I visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. We signed up for a couple of guided tours through the Badlands and spent the entire afternoon wandering through the past. The exhibits and fossils on display were incredible; it was a really awesome learning experience. (I'm just now realizing I never shared any of those photos... maybe I'll put together a post for tomorrow with a few of them!)

Anyway, I always have to browse through museum gift shops and, no surprise, left this one with a mini sketchbook. Made from recycled elephant poop no less!

The pages have a really great handmade texture - smooth on one side, "woven" on the other - and are thick enough to support mixed media. When I bought the notebook, I had no idea what I was going to do with it... and it sat neglected for a month. Finally, I figured out a use for it: as a place to "remember" some of the paper coordinates that I put together (since I haven't been blogging them recently).

Colours, patterns and textures that I like together, in a mini collage enhanced by quick doodles:

Now, when I need colour inspiration, I can look through this book. Or, when I only have a few minutes to create, I can pull some random papers and make a simple collage. Win-win!