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© Tracy CalderThe Daybooks
of Edward
Weston offer
a fascinating
insight into the
mind of the
artist and cover
everything from
flea infestations
to creative
inspiration.
© Tracy CalderWhether you decide to use paints, postcards, fabric or photographs in your sketchbook is entirely up to you. Over time, you will develop preferences.remembering the passionate pleasure from
scratching their bites, but to feel them
crawling excites me to murder.’
Weston would rise at 4am to sit at his
desk and attend to his journal, and he kept
this habit up for 17 years. He later re-read,
edited, and in some cases destroyed, parts
of the journals, revolted by the ‘heartaches,
headaches, [and] bellyaches,’ they contained.
The books were Weston’s way of letting off
steam, but they also show his development
as an artist and as a man. In 1922, for
example, he recalls a meeting with fellow
photographer Alfred Stieglitz. ‘I took my
work to show Stieglitz,’ he confides. ‘He laid
it open to attack, and then discarded print
after print, prints I love. Yet I am happy, for
I gained in strength, in fact strengthened
in my own opinion.’ Just imagining these
masters of photography discussing their
work is a joy.Artists’ diaries often describe
seemingly inconsequential
moments: descriptions of what
they had for dinner, elaborate
accounts of exercise, or trips to the dentist,
for example. While they might seem
insignificant, these moments are crucial to
the creative process. ‘Disconnecting gives
us space to create, allowing us the mental
real estate for invention,’ suggests Christina
Crook, author of The Joy of Missing Out:
Finding Balance in a Wired World. This
downtime is not passive or wasted – far
from it – it allows time to reflect and for
ideas to percolate. Periods of solitude,
daydreaming and defocusing are essential.
‘When you focus less, you see more,’ says
Srini Pillay, assistant professor of psychiatry
at Harvard Medical School. ‘Too much
focus can make you less creative and less
innovative.’ When you ‘defocus’ your brain
by writing in a journal or doodling in a
sketchbook your mind becomes playful
and open to ideas. Regularly adopting
this mind-set will undoubtedly lead
to greater creativity.
Creating a sketchbook or a diary is a
great way to organise your thoughts and
ideas, while also strengthening your artistic
practice. These books should be safe spaceswhere you can express yourself without fear
of judgement – so think carefully before
you share images of your work on social
media. Whether you decide to use paints,
paper, discarded ephemera, material or
photographs in your sketchbook is entirely
up to you. Likewise, your choice of medium
(and paper colour!) will come down to
personal preference. If you make a mistake,
don’t tear the page out and start again –
failure can sometimes be your greatest
teacher. Be playful rather than purposeful,
unfocused rather than goal-orientated.
Relax and you’ll soon be filling up more
sketchbooks than Brooklyn Art Library.Opposite top Tracy’s sketchbooks are a record
of ideas, thoughts and feelings, as well as
a valuable source of artistic inspiration.Opposite below Tracy likes to cut out
inspirational pictures, quotes and chunks
of text from exhibition catalogues,
magazines and leaflets.