Be Part of The Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project
Sadly The Brooklyn Art Library Closed Down Forever This Year
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, Ph.D.
When do you get to say you’re an artist — without flinching?
Is it the day you sell your first painting?
Or do you need to graduate from art school first?

Well, how about the day your work becomes part of the permanent collection of a swanky NYC art library?
That counts, right?
“Having my work in the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library has helped me tell others I’m an illustrator with more confidence,” said Trish Wallis Stone.
But how could little-us have our work in a big art library for posterity (without having to sleep with someone in charge)?
It’s easy. No couch casting involved.
All we have to do is what Charmed Studio subscriber Trish Wallis Stone did; be brave enough to step through the magic wardrobe to be part of The Brooklyn Art Library Sketchbook Project.
What’s The Sketchbook Project?
“It’s more than just a project,” said Steven Peterman, the 34-year-old founder of The Sketchbook Project. Petermen dreamt up the project 14 years ago when he was just 20 years old and has been growing its wings ever since.
The Sketchbook Project is an inside look at the brains of artists, a representative slice of global creativity.
“We have reignited art careers, inspired first-time creatives, and even helped a few marriage proposals,” said Peterman.
But the sketchbook project doesn’t just inspire adults.
Your Sketchbook Can Help Kids See That Being an Artist is a Real Life Path

The Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project also sports a shiny white bookmobile.
Think of it as a rolling artists’ sketchbook library that shares thousands of creatives’ notebooks with local second graders.
Wouldn’t you have loved to see and touch such sketchbooks when you were a kid?
Doing so might have opened us up to the notion that being an artist was a real-life-path option for adults.

Stone’s Sketchbook Story
I love that Trish Wallis Stone (who told me about the project) discovered her passion for keeping map-based sketchbooks in 2018, in the second half of her life, at 58 years old.
Stone is a Seattle University Senior-library-technician-by-day, map-maker-by-night.
She literally maps out her travel routes before hitting the open road for driving vacations with her husband Steve in their magical Ural Sidecar motorbike.

“In 2019 stumbled upon an article about The Brooklyn sketchbook project on ArtistsNetwork.Com,” said Trish. “I felt compelled to order a sketchbook right away.”
But then, Stone did something I know myself and many of my readers would do.
She promptly let the blank sketchbook sit untouched on her desk month after month, until about 5 days before the submission deadline.
“I kept saying to myself I’d get around to it. All of sudden it hit me that I had to turn this book in a few days,” said Trish. “But I hadn’t picked a theme yet.”

Then Trish had her lightbulb moment.
(Need help generating a big light bulb moment on a deadline? Check out The Charmed Studio’s free Meditations for Artists: Reduce Fear, Ignite Creativity.)
Trish’s Lightbulb Moment
“I thought, ‘Why not base the sketchbook on the travel notes, sketches and urban legends I’d come across in our road trip that year from Seattle to Port Townsend Washington?'”
So Stone did just that.
She stayed up late into the night, four nights in a row, transferring her pen and ink drawings from her various notebooks (via a lightbox) to her official sketchbook.
When she wasn’t doing that she was calligraphing stories on notecards she secured on every other page of her sketchbook using old-fashioned black photo corners.
Stone added delightful details like her sketch of the 600-pound octopus that some still say lurks under The Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka The Sturdy Gurdy.)

“I finished at the last minute,” said Trish. “I sealed that envelope without having time to worry if this was a mad action or not. All I was concerned about was if I’d made typos or if the package would get there in time.”
Looking back Trish now believes it was all worth it. She sees the sketchbook project as a great opportunity for artists, especially shy ones like herself.
“I’m not a flashy kind of person,” said Trish. I don’t promote myself well — if at all. So this was an opportunity for me to get recognition in a way that felt comfortable to me.”
But is the sketchbook project right for all artists?
What Kind of Artist Would Benefit from Submitting a Sketchbook?
Newer artists might want to be brave and do this project to boost their confidence.
You can draw, write, collage, or print your way through your sixteen, creamy, 5 x 7 pages.
Maybe try this project to refine a vision through trial and error.
Or give it a whirl if only to polish those all-important presentation skills.
Established artists, on the other hand, may want to use their Brooklyn sketchbook to investigate a wild new idea for a series, with the benefits of a hard deadline and a small fee.
The options are limitless, and therefore intimidating.
But luckily this project comes with a few built-in boundaries to save the day.
Being Pressed For Time Can Be a Good Thing in Sketchbook Land

“Pressed For Time” by fine artist and Charmed Studio subscriber Terry Cooke Hall. 12″ x 8,” oil on canvas.
The Brooklyn Sketchbook Project has two additional pluses that may at first seem like minuses.
“The sketchbook project allowed me vast freedom of expression, but with limits, said Trish.
“The limits acted as a support, a framework, a format. And that deadline was absolutely what I needed to finish this thing I’m proud of that a few others might look at one day,” Trish said.
And I argue the sketchbook fee is also a plus because our natural desire not to want to waste money may be the only superpower we possess that is mighty enough to overcome the fear-based procrastination which often stops us from sending in our submissions.
Another Reason The Sketchbook Project is Wondrous
Have you ever noticed traditional art history tends to leave a hell of a lot of people out of the story?
What I love about the Brooklyn Sketchbook Project is that it lets so many of us back into the narrative of history.
This project honors, preserves, and legitimizes, “smaller” stories, lesser told but equally important stories.
Like artist’s stories, women’s stories, minority stories, LGBTQ stories, differently-abled stories – all our stories!
(One of the best t-shirts I ever saw was worn by a female composer and it said, “Anonymous” Was a Woman.)
6 Reasons To Join The Sketchbook Project or Give It as a Gift
- You’ll get to honor your art or something that has happened in your life, as valid and important.
- You’re contributing something to a time capsule library, where your work will be preserved indefinitely.
“Anatomy Man” by Thea Fiore-Bloom, a page in my sketchbook “Freud’s Imaginarium.” Now in the collection of the Brooklyn Sketchbook Library. - Become a part of a global movement of creatives that will inspire others.
- Stretch your imagination in terms of what anyone thinks a 16-page sketchbook could be used for. (Origami, graphic novel anyone?)
- You can watch your work travel to popups, exhibitions, and installations across North America.
- You’ll be able to continue to engage with, track, and promote your work no matter where you live.
So are you ready to make a little art history?
This year’s deadline is fast approaching.
I’m doing it. (Gulp.) Thanks to so many of you for already joining me on this adventure.
(Update, please come visit my now completed sketchbook. It’s about the cabinets of curiosity.)
If I can finish so can you!
Here’s the link to get started.
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You might enjoy these other Charmed Studio Pages and Posts:
How to Recover From a Harsh Art Critique
51 Blog Post Topics for Heart-Centered Artists
How To Deal With a Failure or Setback in Your Art Career
How Tea Helps Artists: Includes Resource Guide of Best Books For Tea Lovers
It was a great blog. You are such a wonderful resource for writers and all creatives. Your generosity of ideas and your enthusiasm for creativity makes me think there’s a Ted Talk in your future.
Oh boy! You’ve done it again Thea! This idea is so compelling that I ordered 5 books so my family and friends can participate too. On behalf of us all, thank you.
I love that they are showing the journals to children, so I am planning A tour of my enchanted garden through drawings and stories. The summer is stretching out before me with all the burgeoning growth and magical transformations. I can hardly wait to get started.
Don’t you wish you could visit the library and dig into the collection? Imagine pulling out journals at random and discovering what gems they hold. So friggen cool!
I think the idea of an enchanted garden sketchbook/journal is great for both children and adults. Great idea. In a way you are recording a summer in the life (a slice or a snapshot of the history of a garden right? Will you use sketches or photos? Or both? I am toying with the idea of a mini children’s book myself. I ordered my journal and am glad it is not here yet, lol, so I have a bit more time to ponder. Sometimes the pondering is as fun, or more fun than the doing right? Thanks for letting me know. I am excited for all five of you!
Yes! One summer in my garden, and I’ll let the garden itself dictate what gets included in the sketchbook. I think I’ll probably use a bit of everything…photos, sketches, painting, pen and ink. Whatever seems appropriate for the subject. In other words… I don’t know yet 😂.
I agree it feels kinda daunting, making that transition from thinking to doing. Maybe it will just flow once we actually start! Ya… it’ll just flow. Can you feel it?
I actually think the hardest thing will be parting with the completed book. Maybe we can do a little ritual or something to ease the letting go. Like throwing seeds in the wind to let them fall where they may. If you hang onto to them, they can’t do what they are meant to. (Please note the continuing garden theme). 🙄
Anyway, it feels like an adventure, it’s going to be awesome.
This is awesome!!! So excited to get started. I love Trish’s side car!! You always find such unique people and stories and make things come alive. The art work is stunning and I love that you are adding related links from pasts posts because your work is an organic growing beautiful lesson on how to live the art centered/heart centered life. Thank you once again Thea for being incredible and sharing your gifts. 🙂
tried to past a picture of my sketch book but text only. 🙂
Isn’t that sidecar the best??!!! You are the BEST too. I love your expression the “art-centered/heart-centered life.” Beautiful. I am putting your comment in my Feel Good File. (https://thecharmedstudio.com/artists-writers-need-feel-good-file/). And send me the image via email (sorry this WordPress theme forbids images in comments), I would love to see what you are up to. Also if you have a minute and you want to share the link in the comments for that class on the JUNK JOURNAL that you told me about, that would be swell. Thanks so much Gale.
Thea, thank you for sharing the Brooklyn Project! I just ordered the sketchbook.Not sure about the theme yet I have three weeks to think about that! I like that it’s a global project and so unique.I actually have lots of sketches from work I created. Sometimes you can sketch ideas out all you want and your work takes on a life of its own.
Hurray! So glad the global aspect of it resonated with you too. There is a section on their website where you can hit a random button and leaf through a random sketchbook but I can’t find it at the moment. And yes to the idea that a theme will emerge, I try to force themes onto things but they always rebel and insist on living their own life, lol.
Thea, they sure do! It will be fascinating what you come up with!
A very exciting, innovative sketchbook project! I want to participate. When is the deadline? Nothing on their site indicates a deadline (or liveline). If it’s not too soon, I will participate. My theme will be tenderness lifting up despair, compassionate awareness pointing out to despair that a beautiful mental state is immediately available, and is the optimum way to contribute to the global vibe.
Glorifying suffering, being addicted to suffering, obsessed by suffering, only makes everything worse. Training ourselves to live in a beautiful state allows intelligence to function better, renders us more helpful, and makes everything better. This is completely different from sticking our heads in the sand.
Another terrific post! Thanks, Thea, for all your thoughtfulness 🙂
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for taking the time to comment and tell me of your cool plan.
The deadline is on the website, check here. https://brooklynartlibrary.org/sketchbookproject
As of this writing,(June 7, 2020) you need to order by June 15th to get in to the next volume with your/our deadline being in September of this year. Let’s do it guys! I ordered yesterday.
I haven’t decided on a theme yet, I am going to come up with one during the 3 week period of time the Sketchbook Project says to allow for as they ship out the journals during Covid Crisis.
Did you check out their other challenges, they look tempting as well, especially the underwater one.
Take care,
Thea