This Week's Visual Journals

week 30 of 2026

Hello!

Hope you’re well.

This week we’ve had so many goldfinches appear in our back garden. The cornflowers attract them and they also love the silver birch. Eating alfresco becomes extra exciting when we have such wonderful visitors. In the studio, I’ve been wrapping up loose ends, both metaphorically (admin, emails etc) and literally packaging the last few paintings from the Bright Hope collection to be shipped. I was delighted to have received some images of the artwork safely arrived and already hanging up in their new homes.

Back in the spring, I shared this sheet and sharing it again today as I’m about to embark on a summer creative reset - if you would like to print it too for these summer months.

My Methodology

For this summer creative reset, I plan on visiting my parents in Northern Ireland for a few days. For this, I have a few non-negotiable morning rituals and a few more flexible plans for each day: I will sketch for the joy of it, swim in the sea, chat with family over a cup of tea, read Irish folk tales, go for walks daily and do as much journaling as I want.

A Gift For You

As a gift, below is a printable of the sheet which I tweaked back in the spring. If you would also like a creative reset at some point this summer, this is for you!

If you print this, I’d love to see how you’ve filled it in!

This Week’s Visual Journal Spread

This time-lapse shows you my process while creating this week’s spread in my 2026 visual journal sketchbook. I never take this sketchbook physically out of the studio, all my other “play” sketchbooks go out with me on my explorations and adventures and then come back to the studio to inform this weekly ritual. I often use those “play” sketchbooks as references for these weekly visual journals, such as this week, as I sketched in several sketchbooks throughout the week.

In terms of colours, I was very inspired this week by the landscapes/seascapes in The Odyssey and the colours in my garden (though everything is very dry) and the fruit we’re enjoying as summer snacks.

Step 1 - I put down some tape and added a base of watercolour and Neocolor 2, adding the swatches of colour I used on the bottom left of the sketchbook spread.

Step 2 - Once the first layer was dry, I added definition with Neocolor 2 and once that was done, I carefully took off the tape for that crisp effect.

Step 3 - Using my Kaweco fountain pen, on the top left page, I logged events that happened during each day this week, using a piece of paper to lean my hand on in order to not smudge. On the right page, I continued to log events by illustrating little things that brought me joy. For example: posting and receiving postcards, my research on Ancient Greek ceramic pots, our homemade strawberry milkshake, seeing the pumpkin grow in our garden, etc.

The First Week of The Summer Break

• early morning walks when the air is cool and beautiful

• spotting the goldfinches on our cornflowers in the garden

• drawing stunning Derbyshire with the club and Sara Boccaccini Meadows, the replay is now in the club archives HERE if you missed it and would like to see some of Sara’s creative practice

• drawing our garden pumpkin flowers

• seeing the cornflower, jasmine, tomatoes and apples growing in our garden

• sorting out the boys’ clothes and toys then dropping some off at our local Barnardo’s charity shop

• being out on a date with Mike to see The Odyssey at the cinema

• researching pottery such as this one with the ship of Odysseus passing Sirens

• listening to The Rest is History podcast’s series on the Founding Fathers, starting with this episode on Washington

More Joyful Posts

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