Juliette Orton

I do love natural textures, in fact I think I might be slightly obsessed about them! I have just been looking back at some photos and found quite a few that I still find inspirational. Lichen on a stick Watermarks in the sand Pebbles on the beach Sand on slate Fabulous dried flowerhead Leaf watermarks left on the patio Frozen leaf layers 'Marian's Marvel' at RHS Wisley more sand ridges left by the tide It's amazing what you ca n capture on camera, I certainly wouldn't call myself a photographer but I do use photographs a lot in my initial rese arch . I t ry to hang on to any interesting photos as you never know when they will come in handy.   julietteodesigns.co.uk julietteorton.blogspot.co.uk facebook.com/julietteodesigns twitter.com/julietteorton 

Since I've started a new sketchbook recently I thought I could do a diary of sorts to explain how I have put the various sections together. I chose the theme of 'Layering' as I was looking through some old A-Level Art & Design question papers and this topic appealed to me. If you want to create your own sketchbook obviously you could choose any theme you like, just make sure that it's something that interests you and you will find plenty of inspiration. I favour an A3 size sketchbook but there are no hard and fast rules on this, and it's best to go for a scale that you feel comfortable with. I started out with a title page and a 'mind map' of written ideas of anything that I felt could relate to the theme of 'layering', a brainstorm of sorts. This is a good way to get over the dreaded 'first page fear' when you just can't bring yourself to start your pristine book and any mark you make is overly scrutinis