I hope you take a few minutes to thoughtfully read all the thoughts below; I’ve written down for you the ideas connected to the making of what is called a “Commonplace” book. NO, I am not teaching you how to make (yet another) sketchbook.

Although it’d be fine if I were.

The Commonplace Book has a long, storied history in education. It used to be, well, so commonplace, that it was its own verb!

Commonplacing: The act of writing down, however imperfectly, all the direct quotes, Scriptures, notes from sermons or any sort of live teaching, but especially the act of writing down whole paragraphs or lines of quotes from books read.

So, a “Commonplace Book” is NOT a sketch book in the traditional sense, though you could also sketch in it. And it is NOT a journal in which you spill out your own words and thoughts. A Commonplace Book IS, in my opinion, the most powerful journal to keep in terms of your thriving in your making.

To be honest, it can be a notebook from the Dollar Store, but what’s the fun in that?. It could also be a beautifully bound, expensive leather journal, but what’s the fun in that?. Or it can be this eye-catching handmade journal that we will make together in this class.

I keep mine in a glass box, sometimes in my living room, sometimes in my studio.

And when I make one as a gift to someone, I gift it in a glass box. (Interestingly, I’ve found the best size and price for glass boxes via the clothing store H&M’s website)

In my Commonplace Book, I keep only quotes from the art books I read, or art-themed quotes from the things I run across online or on social media. I am training myself, every time I sit down with a book related to art or making or creativity, to also grab my Commonplace book and a pen.

My “commonplacing” isn’t perfect. It does not look amazing. But it’s perfectly amazing to me. It is lovely to me, to have all these beautiful concepts on art and creativity - the ones that resonate the deepest with me - all in one place, right there in my studio.

This way, the pile of art books can continue to lay all over my house - and they do. But the creme’ de la creme’, the best of the best of alllllll that inspiration, spread across alllllllll those books, can be contained for perusing on my living room couch or sitting in the chair in my studio. All of it remains at my fingertips, any time I need some inspiration. No moving heavy piles of books involved!

It’s my best kept secret. It’s a perfect practice.

There is a link between the head and the heart, and I swear to you -

it’s the hand. It’s that embodiment I keep referencing. It’s that somatic relationship I talk about all the time in social media. Anything you write down with your pen in hand (or sketch or paint) becomes part of you in a way that just reading (without writing) or just hearing, or just watching something on a screen, or even typing on a keyboard, can never become part of you. The Commonplace Book is a time honored tradition that generations have used to integrate their book learning into their real life.

It deserves its own class. It deserves its own workshop. Because all the elements of a thriving studio discipline, such as the sketchbook or scrapbook or color studies, can be woven into your Commonplace Book. The method can grow with your art practice and become your most valuable grounded pleasure, embodied discipline of delight, and physical possession.

I can easily see myself - once the pages of mine are full - grabbing my Commonplace Book, my Bible, a few pictures, and my metal lock box with all my documents, if my house were ever to catch fire.

On to the video tutorial, below. Enjoy!