My collection of sketchbooks grow with each year; my oldest are from when I was about six years old.  I traced and copied and indulged in flipping through the pages of my Mothers sketchbook.  A small black hard covered ringed sketchbook with images of women in flowing dresses.  Some how it was lost over the years and with Mom's passing twenty years ago this year; its only a modest memory.

Interestingly my collection is the one thing I have carried with me over my life time.  I recently spent some time helping a High School AP Art class find a venue for an upcoming exhibition.  Bring back memories of my High School Art classes.  I'm hopeful they see the value in their work.  Diligently they spend time in the classroom, often after school hours to 'concentrate' on their art.  Their teacher defines 'concentration' as a body of work unified by an underlying idea that has visual coherence.  With no expectation of success only that the work has evidence of thinking, focus and investigation.  There are many successful paintings being produced in the classroom.  I wrote those words in my sketchbook recently to  remind myself what Art truely is about.  A common dictionary defines Art as the expression of creative skills in a visual form.  Creativity is defined as the use of the imagination in order to create.  Imagination plus Investigation; sounds like a recipe worth trying.  Open your sketch book today and 'concentrate', you might like what you discover.

“The way to achieve happiness is to try for perfection that is impossible to achieve, and spend the rest of your life trying to achieve it.” 

― Winston Churchill

See more of Sheila Schaetzle Art on my website